Rarely does Cerberus jump the release date to praise an album, but somehow Aether 6 jumped to the top of my queue when it hit the mailbox Friday, and I spent the weekend listening to it non-stop, to the point that July 1st couldn’t come soon enough. And since it’s a holiday coming up in the States, best to alert people now before they check out in a haze of fireworks smoke and sweating beers.
First, the Ether Staircase is an apropos name. Aether 6 is an ethereal delight, slowly ascending to…well, not necessarily heaven, but definitely the stratosphere. But it’s not some bombastic explosion burst in air as Francis Scott hides in the hull of a ship. It’s a raw, living-in-the-thick-of-it meditation. So it lights the sky more like a summer thunderstorm passing the area, but leaving no trace beyond a few lightning strikes between the clouds to illuminate the cooling darkness. To climb that ladder…well, not to heaven, but certainly to the night sky’s canvas…and to touch that very real, very dangerous energy and to find a way to harness its power in the most relaxed means available. Aether 6 is Benjamin Franklin’s kite rather than the key; the vessel by which we find ourselves traveling to find transformation. And though the (K)ey may get all the glory, it’s the kite that earns us our stars and stripes. The Ether Staircase isn’t representing some forgotten legacy of American ingenuity, but it feels somehow patriotic in its chill ambiance in tumult times that rival the spectacular displays that will be gracing many skies in the coming week.
More about: The Ether Staircase
