This collaborative album is the newest release from the always-amazing SMTG Limited label run by Jonathan from Souvenirs Young America, which has been shaping up over the past year to become one of the finest sources for dark droney ambience here in the states, with a particular taste for lovingly packaged small-run vinyl editions that have to be seen and held to be truly appreciated. Jonathan's own solo project Anduin came out with a debut album last year on SMTG that I fell in love with immediately, a collection of shadowy kosmiche drift and rumbling subterranean ambience, and here we are a year later with a new full length featuring Anduin, now teaming up with Jasper TX (aka Dag Rosenqvist), another artist whose sound is closely aligned with the murky, gauzy dronebliss aesthetic of the SMTG catalog. And, no surprise, Anduin and Jasper TX have created an amazing album, the signature sounds of each artist complimenting the other perfectly as they craft six long tracks of enveloping aural drift.

Each track is titled after a quote from Carl Sagan concerning the creation of black holes, and the music on The Bending Of Light is all blurred and hazy, drawn out slabs of heavy shimmering drone and rumbling guitar tones, slowly soaring kosmiche synths buzzing and sparkling, the roar of textured drift shot through with shards of light and exquisitely crafted melodies, or submerged Rhodes-like electric piano tones (like on the gorgeous fourth track "Where A Star Once Was"). "Producing Great jets of Radiation" begins in a flutter of chimes and soft whorls of tense Lustmordian drone, but then slowly blooms into great waves of distorted drone and swirling distressed organ melodies reminiscent of the fuzzed-out bliss of Tim Hecker. And "Like The Foot Prints.." is immersed in thick layers of metallic hum and elegant drones, while a heartbeat-like pulse emerges ticking away slowly, joined by a lovely melody appearing as a muted acoustic strum, a warm, dreamy field of deeply layered and detailed ambient electronica. The whole album is filled with equally mesmerizing sounds that wash over the listener, surrounding you with soft underwater creaks and washed out textures, fuzzy chordal drones and emotive melody,

dark and mysterious and beautiful. An incredibly album that everyone and anyone that is into droney, dreamy, heavily textured driftscape needs to hear (especially on headphones) - gorgeous and essential.

The cd version of The Bending Of Light features different artwork from the vinyl.