Release data:

Starseed Transmission – Metamorphic Illumination
CD, Nova Zembla, 1994

The Australian band Starseed Transmission are Steve Law and Andrew Orion, the latter calling himself Andrew Orion on the album. The duo initially met in 1988 through a Melbourne radio station who did a compilation of local electronic musicians.

In 1993 Steve invited Andrew on composing a cd of chilled-out ambient music with the absence of drums and percussion. The creation of the music happened very spontaneous, but due to Steve`s busy schedule at that time they only had two weeks to write, record, produce and master the results of what would become the space-album “Metamorphic Illumination”.

For the most part Steve worked on the sequential elements while Andrew layered multiple tracks of deep textures and atmospheric soundfields. At times their roles did cross over, and they would weave the sequences and arpeggios around the keyboard atmospheres until the pieces began to take shape.

The final mixes were done by the duo with Steve combining some live electronics, additional synthesizer effects and samples, which were manipulated in real time while Andrew added the multi-tracked synthesizer parts from his 8-track recorder.

Probably the most magical piece on the album is the 28-minute landmark “Etherea”, a beautifully dark and somewhat intense space exploration derived from the whole tone scale.

While the two musicians were working on “Etherea”, Andrew Park received the news that one of his best friends had passed away. This had quite an effect on Andrew, and resulted in an even greater poignancy in the music – Steve feels this is borne out particularly in the dense chord progressions that Andrew layered together in the middle of the piece.

“Etherea” was to be dedicated to Andrew’s friend, but unfortunately this was left off the liner notes in the final release due to an oversight by the label.

Since a couple of years, Andrew Park is working on an approximate 72-minute version of “Etherea”, bringing the intense music to full exposure and a more satisfying standard. This extended new version will incorporate the 27-minute track from the cd.
Until now, the music remains unreleased.