Inhmost 'Future Research Journal Entries (Part I)' [CD]

6-Panel Digipak CD [numbered]

Glass-mastered, silkscreen printed CD housed in a 6-panel, 300g satin cardstock Digipak. Clear cd tray. Numbered. Shrinkwrapped. Pressed and printed in Canada. Edition of 200.

Inhmost – Future Research Journal Entries (Part I) (Past Inside the Present, 2024)

UK-based Inhmost (aka Simon Huxtable) makes his Past Inside the Present début with Future Research Journal Entries (Part I), a document of cosmic proportions that offers a journey through weightlessness or, according to the artist, “a time capsule from a forgotten generation of space travelers”. Many of Huxtable’s works, including the collaboration with ASC, The Moons of Saturn (2021), have touched on similar otherworldly themes, but Future Research offers a particular richness of vision that brings the outer realms of the universe within reach.

Opener, “Visualization of Forever”, emerges with a low drone that crests and recedes, the abundant calm punctuated by soft-attack synths, as if resting on the launch pad as the air locks are secured and systems stabilized. “Surface of an Untouched Moon” is truly a sea of tranquility, as a comforting hum occupies the low-mid range and a static whirr graces the backdrop. Gradually, discrete notes appear like constellations from behind a nearby planet, echoing the album’s evocative cover art, where a towering, technicolor nebula rises from the horizon line of a rocky, uninhabited landscape bathed in shadow.

Previous Inhmost albums have appeared on labels such as re:st (CH), Huinali (KR), Tonight’s Dream (UK), and Spatial (US), each suited to a particular hue of his production spectrum. Some collections venture into pulse-raising drum & bass, while others have a mid-tempo chillout room aura, but the common thread is always a sense of existential wonder, and humility before the grandeur of the universe. A prime example here is “Approaching Celestial Body”, where restraint and subtlety draw the listener in, while twinkling details and analog hiss appear from the edges, all signs of life that arc and bubble across the stereo field.

Huxtable states, “I wanted the album to have a very visual theme, but also to retain negative space within each track, so that from a listening perspective, there is room to drift away into the narrative of the story.” This ethos guides tracks like “Gravitational Correction” and “Haunting Silence”, where you can feel the fragile barriers between life and the sub zero brutality of the void – hazy arpeggiations create a feeling of momentum across light years, while a compelling, ground-shaking eeriness consumes the assembly of harmonic drones.

“Re-Entry Point” begins with faint radio transmissions that could be the black box of a recovered craft, or a control center reaching out to a lost crew, the chirp of their signal echoing between channels. Midway through, a wandering melody comes into focus, leading into a full, pulsating arrangement that moves with the steadiness of a clock, counting out moments of infinity. We fade once again into broken static, and into the closing movement, “Sunrise On A New World”, whose foundation of cyclical whispers underscores an arrangement of aquatic synths, refracting golden light across a broadening landscape. After such a dynamic odyssey across the unknown, the album ends quietly with a cold stop, affirming that the next departure is not far off.

RIYL: 36, ASC, Shuttle358, James Bernard, Bola, Gallery Six, Markus Guentner



Written, mixed and produced by Inhmost (Simon Huxtable)
Mastered at Ambient Mountain House by James Bernard
Design and layout by zakè

Marketed, distributed, and compact disc copyright: Past Inside the Present. Glass mastered, manufactured, and assembled by Analogue media Technologies Inc. dba Duplication.ca, Canada.

© 2024 Past Inside the Present
℗ 2024 Past Inside the Present Publishing (BMI)
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