Four years have passed since Brian Hilyard’s last outing under the Dreone moniker. His latest, Hanuš, takes its name from the alien creature in 2024’s Spaceman, and serves as both a concept album and a memorial. As Hilyard describes it:
The overall theme of the Dreone project… is that the souls and spirit of my fallen companions live within the systems of a sentient spacecraft and its humanoid manifestation/android, the notion of which allows me the mental freedom to explore the cosmos through music and be a bit more experimental with my sound. This album in particular is about them traveling together through the echoes of memories and the loneliness of space to witness the beginning and end of everything, leading the listener to acceptance through catharsis.
In keeping with Stereoscenic Records’ “lush scenes painted with sound” aesthetic, “Hanuš Pt. II End” is awash in pure drifts of gently unfolding sound that are reminiscent of labelmate Poemme’s Soft Ice (one of my all-time favorite ambient albums). The song’s actual composition might be simple, but the vastness of Hilyard’s atmospherics ensure that it’s appropriately solemn and even majestic — as befitting an album inspired by both the depths of space and the memories of loved ones.
Hanuš is currently available from Stereoscenic Records.