Nick Walters - Singularity (2022)

Nick Walters returns to his D.O.T. Records imprint with a suite of forward thinking, cosmic, electronic-jazz experiments, inspired by NASA & the concept of gravitational singularity. Each track on “Singularity”, his first home studio produced album, is built around an audio sample recorded by NASA in space, then expertly transported back to earth by Walters via some magical trumpet and synth work on his newly purchased Juno-106. The album features key contributions from Ruby Rushton drummer Tim Carnegie, 22a Music’s Tenderlonious on flute and some sublime guitar work from Thibaut Remy.

'Singularity' is an album inspired by the concept of the gravitational singularity, thought to be found at the centre of black holes, and also thought to be the initial state of the universe at the beginning of the Big Bang. These are the points where current scientific understanding breaks down, where general relativity meets quantum mechanics and current theories are unable to comprehend how density or the curvature of spacetime can reach infinite levels. The album is dedicated to Professor Roger Penrose, the scientist who alongside Stephen Hawking did so much to develop theoretical understanding of singularities and black holes, and rightful recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2020.

Each of the tracks features an audio sample recorded by NASA and made available for download and further artistic use. They include samples taken by the Cassini spacecraft as it studied Jupiter, Saturn, and their many moons, whistler waves picked up by NASA's Van Allen Probe as it passed around Earth, and interstellar plasma sounds picked up by the Voyager probe after leaving the Solar System.
The tracks grew gradually over time in an organic process, with key assistance provided by Ruby Rushton drummer Tim Carnegie, whose powerful and lively drumming added real impetus and energy to the programmed drum parts. Tenderlonious also added beautifully melodic flute parts to four of the tracks, and Thibaut Remy also contributed with some tasty guitar. The icing on the cake was the purchase of a Juno-106, which provided a load of spacey synth sounds perfect for the realisation of the project.

The artwork by Lorna Robertson matches the music by utilising a NASA image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, combined with hand drawn elements inspired by the visual style of Kubrick's classic film '2001: A Space Odyssey'. She depicts on the front cover a spacecraft journeying towards a bright star, controlled by operating a Juno-106, the analog synth so important to the sound of the album. The reverse shows a spaceman, trumpet in hand, ready to leave the safety of the ship to explore whatever is to be found outside.