Viridian Sun

Artist:  Vidna Obamana, Ron Boots
Alpha Wave Movement, Jeff Pearce, u.a.
P: 1998
This double CD features 142 minutes of previously unreleased material by musicians exploring the non-physical realm. This 2-CD set released on the Hypnos label is a must for devotees of drifting space synth music.

Artist: Viridian Sun
P: 2009
"Infinite In All Directions is another fantastic cosmic space trip into the dark and unexplored regions--true "space music" in every sense of the phrase. Without synths this time, the sound is much more dense than the duo's debut Solar Noise, but no less atmospheric. You gotta love guitars and all the magical new sounds that can be coaxed out of them with delays and other processing goodies, to appreciate this music. Imagine this release is what may have resulted had Slowdive dropped the girl and the drummer, and decided not to make pop music anymore, but rather sit around their own bedrooms and make trippy soundscapes for their own personal enjoyment. There is that intimate vibe present on this recording. Music not for the casual listen, but immersive music that demands your full attention to appreciate every nuance of the sounscapes.

Artist: Viridian Sun
P: 2005
LTD 300
Live, Paris Theater is the first live recording released by Viridian Sun, and the first time Hypnos has released a live recording intact and in its entirety.
The live performance captured here travels from a strange but serene beginning, through deep space bleeps and drones, before building to a sonically intense climax. If you've heard Viridian Sun before and wondered what they sound like in live performance, the answer is that they sound very much like they do on their previous CDs, Solar Noise and Perihelion, both of which were recorded as live improvisations in-studio. Integrating hypnotic, reptetitious patterns with deep drones and alien melodies, varying from blissed-out peaceful meditive passages, electronic enough for the synth-music lover but substantially guitar-based, and accordingly raw and organic sounding... Live, Paris Theater summarizes the essence of what Viridian Sun is about. If you like your space music a little challenging and surprising, not just drone chords with predictable, pretty little melodic bits, then take a trip into deep space with Viridian Sun.

Artist: Viridian Sun
P: 1997
PERIHELION goes in a slightly new sonic direction, but retains the intuitive, improvisational approach. The focus remains on creating highly visual and evocative soundscapes, an ever-evolving construction of loops and drifting background textures, both hypnotic and beautiful. Perihelion is a strong and very cohensive album which cuts through, blends and corresponds with the perception of the listener. Equally strange, surreal and dense [as the debut Solar Noise] but it's this album which sets the unified harmony in focus and states with sound what the Hypnos label actually stands for. This is an excursion into very dark ambient territory, an amelodic, surreal, incorporeal world. Viridian Sun is synthesist and Hypnos label owner M. Griffin and guitarist David Tollefson, and both combine their indescribable sounds into a mysterious and wonderful concoction that not only draws its influence from modern pioneers such as Vidna Obmana and Jeff Greinke, but hearkens back to the analog pioneers of Ohr Tangerine Dream and Conrad Schinitzler. "Epihelion" is a 12 minute opener that reminds of some of Lightwave's deeper moments, a sonic painting whose every sound is both familiar and strange, it's rich with subtlety and an instant classic.

Artist: Viridian Sun
P: 1997
The sounds produced by the interaction of Griffin's ambient synthesizers and Tollefson's experimental guitar work can be difficult, but they are always intriguing. The music of Viridian Sun is unlike anything else coming out of the ambient well these days, and they will hopefully continue to challenge and enlighten their listeners for a long time to come.