Calm waters greet us in the verdant fantasy world of PJS’s lush Environments. The duo of Patrick Dique and Jordan Christoff has sailed across countless universes in their 15-year history, yet Environments is laden with fresh blooms. Environments is a welcoming place, adrift in a cloudless sky, floating on a bed of whimsy and mirth. PJS takes us on an expansive journey, creating their own mythology with every step.
Dique and Christoff create dense soundscapes so it’s impressive that all this music is recorded live with no overdubs. Layers come and go, breathing in the crisp air of “Weather System” while synth swells fade into view. Glazed tones glisten in the bright night, moving through paper leaves soaking up the aqueous textures in the air. It’s music that hangs, barely moving yet always growing outward as if there’s a sweetness chasing from within. “Eco” is a storm behind glass, dark yet gentle, inviting but holding its distance. High-pitched signals pierce through the somber aural mist like messages from a lost civilization. It’s mesmerizing, beautiful.
Throughout the 27 minute opus, “Sugar,” the future is bright and covered in gems. Surfaces reflect the soundwaves, refracting and refining them into crystallized dreams. This is what utopia must sound like across the astral plane. Patterns spiral into intricate shapes, drawing the eye upward as sonic sunshowers wash all around us. Stardust shimmers in our hands, PJS holds the celestial expanse within. “Sugar” is beguiling, never satisfied, and always searching. It’s worth the price of admission on its own.
Despite their long history and impressive discography, PJS is new to me, but I’m completely hooked. Environments lives within spacious harmonies that resonate and spill ultraviolet light into the universe. The vibrations never stop and the mysteries only deepen while PJS continues their boundless journey. Solace rises and the drones wordlessly sing.
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