Jobie's Bite-Sized Music Reviews #39: Rainbow Dome Musick (album) - Steve Hillage
- arrangednoisefan
- Jun 22, 2022
- 2 min read
Recommended
Rainbow Dome Musick is a 1979* album by Steve Hillage. The album consists of only two tracks, one being 23 minutes long and the other being 20 minutes long, which is quite unique for a late 70s album. The first track, “Garden of Paradise”, is very science fiction -esque, with a high concentration of high pitched synths, and sound effects that would not sound out of place in a sci-fi film. The track begins with several seconds of water flowing/falling, which I presume has to do with the title of the song. Perhaps Steve Hillage is attempting to evoke this “Garden of Paradise” with this song. The second track, “Four Ever Rainbow”, has comparatively lower-pitched instruments, with opening with a low, continuous bassline. The entire thing feels like outer space music, having an almost ambient sound that invites feelings of vastness. Synths kicks in late into the track, distinct from the synths in “Garden of Paradise” in that they are not utilized near as much for the song's instrumental, being more of a secondary element to the instrumental. Throughout both track's lengthy runtime, they manage to entertain the listener with their many instrumental elements and their texture. These tracks are able to be looped many times in a row, even despite their over 20+ minute runtime. During both tracks, I never felt like there were any “dull” parts, which is somewhat difficult to achieve with this sort of runtime. My favorite track on this album is “Four Ever Rainbow”. Overall, Rainbow Dome Musick is a great ambient album from Steve Hillage. With its many elements (high and low pitched synths, continuous melodies, low basslines, spacelike instrumentals), the album manages to be able to be listened to repeatedly without it being tiresome. This is especially impressive, considering that there are only two 20+ minute tracks on the album.
*Version reviewed: 2006 Digital Remaster
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