Divine Matrix

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2012
Easily the best so far from Steve Barnes, who is honing his talents as Divine Matrix with some superb space music creations. "Atmospheric Variations" presents a drifting, gently rhythmic style with nicely programmed sequences giving a genuine contemporary Tangerine Dream feel. Nothing is overdone here, there is a wonderful subtly that draws you in, and Steve cleverly allows some nice sequences to build with variation while underpinning some exquisite drifting pads and atmospherics and interesting rhythms and melodies.
Steve also knows how to bring tension and dynamics in and out of the musical spectrum, along with some clever twists and turns that never depart from the overall spacey feel of the album, ensuring that our attention never wanders. There are some real gems here, from the excellent sequencing of "1000 Light years" to the magnificent, awesome TD inspired "Birth of a Cyclone" to the gently spacey title track. This is a stunning album worthy of any melodic em fans investigation.

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2020
Beachcombing is a stunningly beautiful album of ambient music. It is delicate, gently mysterious and evocative, while being gorgeously serene and calming. It invokes the feeling of being wrapped in a warm blanket of contentment. Steve is able to conjure up the most amazing musical landscapes with his gentle sequences, intricate atmospheric effects and multilayered pads. The music sounds modern and yet it recalls the halcyon days of classic 70’s electronic music and in particular, Tangerine Dream. Easily one of Steve’s best albums!

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2023
Divine Matrix returns with Volume 4 of his Soundscapes series of electronic music excursions. ‘Bioluminescence’ continues the theme in a more ambient, experimental style. There’s plenty of creativity though within this drifting, ethereal space music journey.
Steve is a master at creating ambient spaces populated with just the right amount of spaced out textures end effects. There are no drums or rhythms here, just gentle rhythmic motion supplied by delicate sequences.
The result is 9 tracks of varied, atmospheric spaced out ambient music with a darker, pulsating undertone. When rhythmic sequences do appear, they do so in an understated and gorgeously chilled out way. The stunningly beautiful “The Beauty in Things” epitomising the artist’s brilliance. Overall, this is an evocative and spaced out trip on the wings of expertly crafted ambient electronica.
Steve has always managed to conjure up electronic music with echoes of 70s and 80’s Tangerine Dream, but with a modern edge and full of surprises.
While ‘Bioluminescence’ isn’t a sequencer based album, it still harks back to the early days of electronic space music – indeed, spaced out Krautrock – with a feeling of deep distance and adventure beyond the cosmos. Stunning!

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2021
Soundscapes Vol 3 ‘Celestial Phenomena’ continues the Divine Matrix vision of deep ambient, electronic space music.The opening drones and gentle piano notes drifts effortlessly to our ears like shooting stars on a magical night. The scene is set and each track presents a varied and beautiful soundscape. We are captivated by the gentle, mysterious and delicately evocative scenes. This is not ‘new age mediation music’, but it could easily work as such, because the music is so gorgeously calming. It invokes the feeling of drifting through space with serene contentment. Steve’s ability to continually conjures up these amazing musical landscapes with gentle sequences, intricate effects and multilayered pads is impressive. Technically the music sounds fresh and modern. And yet it recalls the halcyon days of classic 70’s electronic space music.

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2015
‘Cloudsurfing’ is the first in a series of planned ambient excursions from Divine Matrix, whose contemporary electronic works have proved very popular in recent years. While previous albums have tended to be more rhythmic and sequencer driven, here on ‘Cloudsurfing’, it’s all about slowly evolving textures and gentle, pulse like sequences. The effect is also highly evocative, painting surreal and hypnotic soundscapes with otherworldly overtones. The effect is one of drifting through a strange, alien landscape. Crystalline sounds and spacey effects dance delicately across warm, thick pads, the sound washing over the senses. The music may be ambient, but Steve Barnes knows enough about his craft to ensure his creations have enough form and structure to be involving and interesting. Tracks like ‘Ominous Sky’ and the title track are actually quite beautiful and typical of Divine Matrix at its best, and even at this albums darkest, it is never ‘threatening’. Everything is beautifully produced with a depth and warmth sadly lacking in a lot of music of this style. If good quality ambient, electronic space music is your thing, then this should be right up your street. Fans of Divine Matrix will love it!

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2025
‘Dark Machine’ is a gloriously dark ambient release from Divine Matrix. It’s to easy to refer to an artist’s latest album as “their best yet”, but quite simply Dark Machine is and it’s sensational!From the drifting brilliance of the opening ‘Enigmatic Structure’, through the unsettling ‘Element Unknown’, the music is spellbinding. There are dangerous undertones in the title track and ominous foreboding throughout the remainder of the album.The penultimate track ‘Mort du Soleil’ offers a hint of optimism with its stunning Tangerine Dream’esq sequencing – a brilliant track. The album concludes with the aptly titled ‘Life Will Find A Way’. Here the music attempts to grasp at fleeting melodies through the darkness. And yet…this is far from a depressing album. In fact, it is an album brimming with inventive ambient music, peppered with great sequencing and rhythmic motion. There were times when I was reminded by tone and feel of the Vangelis track ‘Himalaya’ from the classic album ‘China’. And it could easily be the soundtrack to a sci-fi movie.

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2021
Heart of the Shaman is probably the finest Divine Matrix work to date. It has deep undulating tones and slow burning, driving rhythms and occasional gothic inspired vocal layers. So this album shows a shift from his more cosmic orientated music and so becomes a darker and more ‘earthy’ affair. This is quite simply a powerhouse performance, expansive and stunning in its scope and it demands your attention. From the astonishing opening track ‘Into the Deadlands’, through to the final thought provoking ‘Shadow Whispers’ and ‘Lament to the Dead’, Divine Matrix evokes gorgeously evocative atmospherics and hypnotic rhythms and sequences that cast a captivating spell. So there is an otherworldly feel to the music, because it engulfs you. It pulls you in and is so captivating and almost sensual in its feel. And it is amorous, it is moody…and it is quite simply magnificent!

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2013
Divine Matrix has proved a very popular discovery for fans of melodic and atmospheric sequencer style em. Its founder, Steve Barnes, carved out a niche for himself in the 90’s producing modern dance music and has transferred those musical skills to superb creative effect as Divine Matrix with a series of popular albums over the years on AD Music.
For those familiar with Steve’s  music, “Helios” will be a joy after nearly 5 years since his last release as it continues in the same melodic, thematic and creative sequencer style of electronic music. For those venturing into the cosmic worlds of Divine Matrix for the first time, prepare for a wonderful, gently rhythmic sonic journey with shades of Tangerine Dream at their melodic and atmospheric best. As one would expect, the production is of the highest quality and Steve’s ability to create and weave a sublime musical tapestry to holds the listener through the music landscape put him up there with the best in the genre.

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2013
Another exquisite journey to the stars from Divine Matrix, whose gently rhythmic, melodic style of sequencing reminds one of 80's Tangerine Dream, but done here with a more contemporary feel. Full of great themes, gentle strings and drifting , ethereal pads.

Artist: Divine Matrix
P: 2011
This is contemporary melodic chill-out of the very highest calibre and perfectly illustrates Steve's grasp of melody, sounds and rhythms. It's a completely different style and sound to Steve's new age music debut on AD Music, "New Day", yet it retains the core of Steve's musical style with warmth and strong musical structure. It also perfectly illustrates how close the new age, electronic and chill-out music styles can be in the hands of such an accomplished artist.
The album sways between gently rhythmic, like the aptly named opener "Faith in Chaos" with its clever use of delicate sequences and sounds, and moody and melodic like the "The Crystal Womb". The 13 tracks are varied and present a coherent "whole album" with some pieces being so strong thematically, you'll be humming the tune to yourself afterwards, while others drift along purposely, displaying deep atmospherics and some nice ethereal interludes.
The strength of the album though is undoubtably Steve's ability to mix his strong melodic sensibility with atmospherics, clever contemporary rhythms and a diverse sound palette, resulting in an album that engages the listener on so many levels that you'll want to have the CD on repeat play.