The Centauri Agent

Our coronavirus, shelter-in-place, quarantine project has been to explore the entire Natural Snow Buildings discography, and so far we've followed them from their 2001 origins as a sort of post-rock, Godspeed-type ensemble, through their Dance of the Moon and the Sun folk-drone period of 2006, through their 2008 Night Coercion noise-drone phase, and finally to their 2009 return to folk drone with The Shadow Kingdom.  

So it's pretty much anybody's guess what 2010 would bring, and we probably shouldn't be surprised to be surprised.  In 2010, the prolific duo of NSB released but one album (remember, they released 12 in 2008 alone), The Centauri Agent, a sci-fi, outer-space take on their drone sound.

Unlike many of their previous self-released albums, The Centauri Agent was released by Vulpiano Records as a free-for-download album.  Although it's considered a "double LP" with two defined parts, it never saw physical release as a CD or LP, but just as MP3 or FLAC files.  You can download it for free from Vulpiano's Bandcamp page,  although if you want just the 41-minute opening track, Our Man From Centauri, for some reason it will cost you one US dollar.  I mean, a dollar for one song but free for all 11?

According to Vulpiano, 

”Our Man From Centauri sets the stage, a cosmic, sprawling opener with themes that continue on into The Accidental Remote Viewer, before fizzling out into static. Part Two is comprised of nine beautiful and intense tracks (particular stand-outs including The Psychic Circle/Uchronia, The Storm of Resurrection, and Solar Flares). Lovely and intricately woven as ever, while frequently heading off into new and challenging sonic territory, Mehdi and Solange have created yet another very special work of musical art with The Centauri Agent!"

That's not inaccurate, but fails to point out that The Psychic Circle/Uchronia and Black Holes revisit the folk drone sound and are some of NSB's most beautiful tracks in that genre.  While Part One (Our Man From Centauri and The Accidental Remote Viewer) is basically a long cosmic meditation, Part Two more closely follows the TDotMatS format of folk songs and folk drone interspersed with longer drones, albeit of a more spacey variety.  Here is the track list with times:

1. Our Man From Centauri (41:14)
2. The Accidental Remote Viewer (11:30)
3. The Psychic Circle/Uchronia (10:31)
4. Black Holes (4:25)
5. The Storm of Resurrection (10:54)
6. Moscow Signal (2:51)
7. Phantom Twin (2:59)
8. Stuttering Probe (9:16)
9. Solar Flares (2:56)
10. Emergency Network Farewell Broadcast (3:52)
11. Memories Found in a Bill From a Small Animal Vet (6:29)

 And that's it for 2010!  Another year, another masterpiece!  On to 2011!