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The Glass Pavilion - Celestograph

Sunday, June 25th, 2023 at 4:00 AM #atmospheric 'ambient #shoegaze #rock #review #psychedelic #post-rock #post-metal #post rock #podcast #musicreviews #musicreview #music #experimental #blackmetal #blackgaze #alternativemetal

No matter what your musical fix is at any given time, there is always a mood and a moment for something soothing and hypnotic to deflect your thoughts away from the rat race, to somewhere where the mind and body can seek solace within its own opiate filled bubble. To be able to release yourself from the day-to-day grind through music is a glorious thing, and this review is to thank musicians like Ashley Owens, who’s ambient and atmospheric project, The Glass Pavilion has become the portal to a very different world and a voyage worth taking.

Ashley has had his own fair share of challenges, after a brain hemorrhage forced him to give up guitar back in 2020. But through tough times can good things come, and The Glass Pavilion is Ashley’s gift to us. Celestograph is a seven chaptered voyage through lush green celestial fields and grand open skies that reach out to infinity. There are no limits to where you can go when you listen to this album from front cover to back.

Each track flows and meanders effortlessly through one another, never breaking the cycle and that is one of its many elusive charms. Pt 1 opens on soft summery xylophone tones, that get carried on a warm synthesized breeze, weightless and blissful, as it drifts from ear to ear, before Pt II brings some beautiful post rock goodness with its soft, sullen bass lines and its gentle airy guitars. Patient, slumbrous and hypnotic, every warm and welcoming bass cord reverbs through your chest, cradling those heavenly brass keys, relaxing ever sensory muscle.

Pt III and Pt IV are awash with rich layers of sound, embraced by synthesized walls of goodness that climb and crawl over gentle acoustic notes. Space and infinity beckons, as the tracks merge and marry to create one perfect moment in time. Shoegaze elements creep quietly into Pt V with its hazy and fuzzy overtones dominating the landscape before Pt VI brings murmurings of Jakob’s unforgettable masterpiece that is Solace. Those beautiful basslines stand front and center once more, guiding and chaperoning you towards the light.

Celestograph closes on Pt VII, a ten-minute piano laced, magic carpet ride that glides and swerves through turbulent post rock pockets and giant canopied treelines. It emotive, its magical and it’s the kind of music that raises the hair on your neck, and forces you to clench your fists tightly, never wanting this musical journey to end. With a crescendo to warm the spirits and cleanse the mind, The Glass Pavilion’s roof is shattered as the music soars and heads off into the great blue yonder.

Ashley Owens has written a magical piece of music here that will resonate and resound deep within, long after the last note is played. Heavenly, uplifting and tear inducing at times, Celestograph is simply perfect.