Trance to the Sun: Urchin Tear Soda (CD)

Listening to this Album is like stepping into a shadowy-bright parallel universe, or a psychoticís paranoid nightmare. Here nothing is what it seems: the beautiful full moon is toxic to behold, hearts are made of wire and words, and dirty little girls are the good ones. Slowly, Ashkelon Sainís swirling psychedelic guitars, brooding synth atmospheres, and hypnotic percussion draw you in to Trance to the Sun’s magic, manic world, while Ingrid Blueís shiver-spoken, blister-whispered vocals submerge you completely with visions of things you wish you hadnít seen, but canít take your eyes away from.

Like Modus Operai’s vision of a dank hole in the wall lined with pale seeds through which the malignant narrator alternately teases and comforts his/her brittle crustacean lover, all set to the painfully labored beat of a heart going too slow to stop crashing into overwhelming walls of sound built of guitar, synth and electronic percussion. Or the awesome cover of Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” which seems to fit right in with Trance’s fantastic weirdness; as the driving guitars feed the interstellar overdrive, drums pound the fearful heartbeats of the solar-bound travelers while bright synth bits glide past like distant stars. But to me, the ten-minute closing epic “Vortex Airplane Itinerary” shows best the shining black multicolored flames Trance to the Sun is made of. Launched with a howl, pursued throughout by deep hollow rumbles of inner and outer space, punctuated with things seen and unseen blipping or throbbing or humming past, “Vortex” takes on a one-way trip to dark psychedelic realms undreamed of.

About the best reference point I can give you for Trance’s aesthetic is Edward Ka-Spel’s work with the Legendary Pink Dots and Tear Garden, but Trance really is in a lovely, demented class all their own. Tune in, trip out, but watch your back.
– Dave Aftandilian INK NINETEEN MAGAZINE ~ april 2000

“Pink Floyd would be too scared to play in a world as haunted and psychedelic…” – Paul Angelosanto INSTANT MAGAZINE