Music To Draw To: Satellite, an ambient electronic record featuring vocals by Icelandic singer Emilíana Torrini. An uncharted journey for the legendary scratch DJ, producer, and composer, Kid Koala’s fifth studio album is an emotional work of expansive instrumental soundscapes and chilling vocal ballads.
A record of many firsts for Eric San, the inaugural volume in the Music To Draw To series finds Kid Koala collaborating with a singer, writing lyrics, and producing and performing all instruments. Satellite is the renowned audio-collagist’s first non-sample-based record, using an array of synthesizers, keys, guitars, basses, strings, turntables, noisemakers, and inventive recording techniques to create its celestial atmosphere.
Written during the gelid Montreal winter, Music To Draw To: Satellite tells a heartrending tale of discovery and loss through the lens of lovers separated by a one-way space mission to Mars. The album’s eighteen spacious movements are threaded with eight lyrical songs written by Kid Koala in collaboration with Emilíana Torrini.
Now, Kid Koala’s “work-zone” mass-creativity events and his “quiet-time” compositions combine in gentle yet icy synergy, creating a new intersection for his inventive musical storytelling. An otherworldly departure from the dense sonic patchwork of his earlier releases, Music To Draw To: Satellite is in stark, beautiful comparison an ambient masterpiece: over 72 minutes of stardust settling over Kid Koala’s trove of turntables and sentiment.
