2.5

Release data:

Tim Clark – Tales of the Sun People
CD, Hearts of Space, 1990

“Tales of the Sun People”, composed by American planetarium composer and versatile musician Tim Clark, can be classified as one of those “forgotten” electronic albums in the genre of space music that never received the proper attention from the moment it was released.

The album, subtitled “an interplanetary gypsy western”, was released in the days when the Hearts of Space label was very well known for their strong output of quality cosmic and deep space music.
This release though sounds quite out of the ordinary with its peculiar blend of evocative instrumental music.

Made using only a sparse assortment of early samplers and PCM synths, it tells the story of the imaginary Sun People, a nomad band of gypsies living on a distant planet.

The music contains lots of exotic, orchestral, minimalist and symphonic flavours, all formed by a large range of flute sounds, synthesized strings tapestries and poly-rhythms.
It sometimes ends in something a bit inconsistent, as e.g. heard on “Rattlesnake”, but this soon changes into nice, moody stuff on “Shadow River”. Of all tracks, “Desert Rain” is the strongest piece found here.

“Tales of the Sun People” ends up being a very unusual and hard to find album these days.