12 tracks. Running time 69:43 Pete Kelly, aka Igneous Flame, continues to create half real and half imagined atmospheres using processed guitars. Over time Pete seems to have moved from the sound sculptures on earlier works such as Tolmon to spacier ambience culminating with the spectral spacemusic we encounter on his new release Astra. Listening to artists like Diatonis, Jeff Pearce, and Igneous Flame I still find it amazing what sounds can be formed by processed guitars. The sonic and emotional aura they create is perhaps more haunting than could be achieved with a synthesiser. One thing that has struck me listening to Astra is that it's something like ambient spacemusic as musical Science Fiction. Besides the obvious hankering for cosmic realms in the music's emotional resonance there's a kind of narrative derived from the bare bones of the track titles. The first track “Nimbus” showcases an array of guitar driven effects. Calmly plucked strings play alongside aching lines that fade into the distance like shimmering vapour trails. Lovely textured threads glide or push and pull in a soothing manner. Fast forwarding to the end of the album and “Tonight the night is full of stars” begins unpromisingly with dissonant effects then settles into a wondrous passage of starlight drones and celestial goings on. Pete paints a partially restrained positive view of celestial and spiritual realms. On most of the tracks the sounds are luminous and uplifting, yet there's a sense of antithesis lurking on the edges. Whether this is deliberate or not I don't know, but I can say that it imbues the atmospheres with a wholeness rarely encountered. Though I've found all of Igneous Flame's albums to be interesting and enjoyable I'd say that Astra is his most accessible and pleasing one to date. Anybody who enjoys ambient and/or spacemusic should get hold of this engaging album.