If you’d have told me back when listening to Pop Ambient’s early versions, we’d be the future home of three Markus Guentner LPs…well.
Looking back, and with this new addition, I believe Markus’ trilogy will be considered a future defining set of ambient works.
Markus Guentner returns with his signature expansive ambient world-building, and the third concept album on A Strangely Isolated Place, titled Extropy.
Extropy marks the final chapter in an accidental triptych of Astronomy-related exploratory albums on A Strangely Isolated Place. From the creation of the Earth and the Moon in his debut album on ASIP, Theia; to the relationship the Earth holds with the greater Galaxy in the follow-up album, Empire (2018). To now, Extropy, and the indefinite growth of the life we hold so dearly.
A pseudoscientific prediction that human intelligence and technology will enable life to expand in an orderly way throughout the entire universe, the idea of Extropy has never been more relevant to the pace of today’s world. In what is a significant moment of reflection on the world we live in today, Markus has found comfort in what some may call his early, classic sound. Taking everything he has learned over the years, with ambitious collaborations tabled this time around, Markus has channeled a purer approach to production and the instruments chosen. The result is arguably his most powerful, atmospheric and reflective album to date.
Life, technology and the human race is changing at an exponential rate, and amongst Extropy’s most absorbing moments, the music encourages a deep need to reflect on where we have come, and where we are today.