Year: 2025
Label: Zoharum

The previous album by The Stargazer’s Assistant we reviewed was 2023’s Fire Worshipper (here). Compared to the group’s new album, that was positively on the nose with its themes, though – as we wrote at the time – it’s really anything but. But in comparison.

Because Modular Fields, well, whatever its thematic concept is, neither the album title, track names (which are Field I – IV) nor the album cover reveals much about it. A quick online search reveals that modular fields is a mathematical concept, but if the album derives its name from that, I really don’t know how to identify it in the music. Or the cover art, for that matter.

Luckily, when it come to abstract music like The Stargazer’s Assistant’s cosmic ambient, one can ascribe their own associations and meanings to it. And, at least for me, Modular Fields is extremely easy to do so with. The album evokes a plethora of strong mental imagery. (Well return to these in a heartbeat.)

I suppose the album title might also be a reference to modular synthesizers. At any rate, synthesizers instead traditional instruments and the tribal percussions of Fire Worshipper are at the center here. Layers of warm, harmonious synthesizers flow, wave, oscillate, palpitate and undulate. Slow, languid layers of synths meld with repetitive, arpeggiated layers. Pseudo-melodies and various odd sounds enrich the sonic textures with more “active” elements.

In a word, it all sounds very cosmic much of the time. Space-y. Like the soundtrack to some science documentary about space, stars and cosmic expanses. Imagine long, slow shots of endless space and celestial bodies. Stars and planets flying by as the camera zooms perpetually ever deeper, ever further into space. These Are the kind of beautiful, cosmically mysterious and serene images Modular Fields evokes in the listener.

Some of the synthesizer beeps and boops sound like they could be from some vintage sci fi movie, or maybe Star Trek.

At other times, particularly on the third track, which is adorned by various effects and odd sounds that sound like unknown birds and other nocturnal creatures singing in the distance, the album sounds like nightfall out in the great, undisturbed wilderness, with wild nature surrounding the listener and the vast, endless deep blue of space unfolding above. The unspeakable beauty of the world, for the briefest of moments, reaches out from within the sound to touch the listener.

To be truthful, there are moments when the bleeping and blooping becomes slightly irksome and just too much. But these are isolated moments here and there on an album that, for the most part, is both beautiful and surprisingly engaging to be ambient. Although thoroughly abstract, there is nothing minimalist or understated about Modular Fields. On the contrary, especially in arrangement, this is very fleshed out, which makes the album far easier to approach than many other ambient releases.

Modular Fields is a strong album, carried by its harmonious atmospheres, surprisingly luscious arrangements and its floating, vast soundscapes. Abstract but not obtuse, The Stargazer’s Assistant open up a vast cosmic field for the imagination to harvest. As far as ambient goes, this is exceptionally easy to approach, but that does not make Modular Fields superficial or dumbed down. Testament to the group’s skills, Modular Fields still has great depths to explore.

Visit The Stargazer’s Assistant on their Bandcamp or Facebook