Cosmic Trigger Releases Otherworldly ‘Shpongle Remixed’

psyhoe · October 15, 2020

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Cosmic Trigger will release a new album, entitled Shpongle Remixed, via Twisted Records on October 19.

Shpongle, of course, is the electro-psychedelic project of Simon Posford and Raja Ram, the fantastic purveyors of psybient music, which blends world music with trance and ambient elements.

Shpongle Remixed, the creative handiwork of wunderkind producer Jamie Grashion, more constitutes reconstruction than mere remixing. After engineering the output of leading artists at Youth’s studio, Jamie took on the role of assistant to Simon Posford.

While preparing for Shpongle’s renowned concerts at Red Rocks in 2019, Jamie’s genius stirred Posford to invite him to create his own remixes of the celebrated band’s tracks. Jamie cast his sonic mystical spells, resulting in this new album of multidimensional soundscapes, pulling listeners into the alternative universe called Shpongleland, which resides in another dimension.

Utilizing complex, organic matrices, a dazzling array of tones, and extensive nuanced rhythms, the atmospheric projections are comprehensive, simultaneously delivering elusive familiarity and fresh originality.

Cosmic Trigger — ‘Shpongle Remixed’

Encompassing six-tracks, the album begins with “I Am You,” which opens on oscillating, interweaving colors flowing into industrial kaleidoscopic fluctuations. When the potent bassline and syncopated percussion enter, the tune exudes sonic signals vaguely reminiscent of Pink Floyd, only more infinitely flexible. After a swirling breakdown, the rhythmic pulse takes on hints of EDM muscle combined with rumbling tribal overtones and polished sci-fi.

Highlights include “Nothing Is Something Worth Doing,” traveling on coloration recalling the Biblical creation, followed by thick, hefty pulses of droning brawn accented by luminous hues at once jazz-like and industrial.

“Juggling Molecules” rides throbbing dark thumps topped by galloping layers of surging, sizzling colors. A trembling breakdown shifts the harmonic flow, and then switches to a robotic-mechanical cadence fused with thrumming aspects of filtered vocalizations, both remote and proximate.

“Aquatic Garden” shimmers forth on gleaming tendrils of tropical savors, and then rolls into exotic, magical coloration. Pulsating depth infuses the tune with cavernous tones as a lustrous guitar notes light up the metasphere. A booming, burgeoning shift occurs, giving the harmonics dominating dynamics reflecting organic engineering, as if something animated is being formed.

Brilliantly wrought, saturated with logarithmic spirals of vibrant color and fat storms of polypharmic textures, Shpongle Remixed transports listeners on a lysergic-laced excursion into and through the Empyrean.