This band of four persons from the Seattle area is doing stuff that very few of the other artists in their city are. This is pseudo shoegazer electro-pop at its finest. Utilizing a stunning array of post-guitar rock instruments including drum loops, samples, keyboards, trumpet and sequences, Voyager One has really hit their stride on Monster Zero. This is definitely an album which is meant to be listened to as a whole; no detaching a song here or there for criticism or praise. As an album that rises or falls based on the ability of the songs to stay cohesive and entertaining, Monster Zero doesn't fail one bit. Rather, the dark tones, the sparse but powerful whispered British-esque vocals and the ability for Voyager One to go from soft to loud and back again in a non-emo/math rock manner makes everything on here click. Reading that last sentence, it may seem that Voyager One's means to an end came by taking a page from the emo guide to success, but never, ever use that phrase to describe them. The elements of success are perhaps similar, but this act falls back on traditional British rock structure moreso than any American guide to rock. With that in mind, there is surely a stoner aspect to the music, not in the traditional pot realm as much as something more ambient, say Pink Floyd-esque. However, if one is looking for musical comrades to Voyager One, think My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and a shoegazer version of Low. As a nice change of pace, this comes highly recommended.
- Kurt Morris
NEWS & REVIEWS
Voyager One “Afterhours in the Afterlife” Album Review
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:w9ftxzyjld6e “Voyager One's slow-burn persistence in following their take on the shoegaze dream has ended up serving them well over time -- where their earlier work was at best yet another re-creation of a massively influential yet subcultural sound, on Afterhours in the Afterlife they seem to have finally started becoming their own band, in a conditional and low-key way. Interestingly, part of this comes from outside collaborators, with the opening and closing songs being done with fellow neo-gaze freaks Guitar, whose understated electronics frame the more straight-up rock & roll most on offer elsewhere. As for those remaining eight tracks, the band now seems more dedicated than ever to working on a vein of neo-psychedelic pop sprawl -- calling a song "The Future Is Obsolete" is both clever and knowing, a nod not only to how what is forward-looking can quickly become the past but how it might not matter much in the end. Peter Marchese's low, moody vocal cool is as much a familiar element as everything he and Jeramy Koepping (and guests) produce musically, from understated bass loops to lengthy drones and building swirls of feedback -- and more than once, as on part of "Ocean Grey," the band definitely seems to want to be reaching for the sublime sonic violence that fellow Seattlites Kinski have made their own. But put it all together and Voyager One make it their own little corner of zoned/raging band heroics, drawing on a variety of eras and sounds rather than simply recloning one over and over again. Meanwhile, where they let their electronic impulses come to the fore, as with the strikingly dramatic "The Kids Take Control," which calls to mind Mezzanine-era Massive Attack more than any My Bloody Valentine knockoff, the end results can be quite moving.”
Three Imaginary Girls Review Voyager One’s Live Show
http://www.threeimaginarygirls.com/voyagerone07apr “Voyager One close the night with a more straightforward set than I expected. Since their launch in 1998, they’ve disappeared and reappeared several times growing and changing in the process. Named for a famous/tremendous Verve bootleg, Voyager One followed closely in Verve’s sonic footsteps in their initial material.
Their most recent release, Dissolver, while continuing the spacey approach of their previous work, found a little snarl and rock attitude in songs like album opener “Salvation.” It’s that version of Voyager One that takes the stage tonight. This Voyager One is more aggressive, singer Peter Marchese more confident and vital in his role up front than ever before.
They sound tight; though the rhythm section feels a little, “pro-gear, pro-looks, pro-attitude” for the band’s shoegazer roots, they do serve the goddess rock well tonight. Voyager One has always been the kind of band that encourages me to stop thinking and just soak in the sounds, partly because of the all-engulfing guitars, partly because of the nouveau-psyche imagery projected behind them, and that’s what I do tonight.”
“Voyager One- The Future is Obsolete”
http://hypem.com/track/536369 “If anyone out there is clever enough to invent a spam filter for my snail mailbox, please get working on it…it really is a shame when bands like Seattle's Voyager One slip through the cracks…”
Afterhours in the Afterlife Review
http://lostinyourinbox.blog-city.com/voyager_one.htm “Voyager One is taking me away and I am most definitely a willing passenger. I love the thick, fuzzy synths and the trippy, swirling electronic clouds of sound and the smooth vocals and the downtempo beats of the drums. They couldn't have a better name for the feeling their music evokes…”
Voyager One “Afterhours in the Afterlife” Album Review
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:w9ftxzyjld6e “Voyager One's slow-burn persistence in following their take on the shoegaze dream has ended up serving them well over time -- where their earlier work was at best yet another re-creation of a massively influential yet subcultural sound, on Afterhours in the Afterlife they seem to have finally started becoming their own band, in a conditional and low-key way. Interestingly, part of this comes from outside collaborators, with the opening and closing songs being done with fellow neo-gaze freaks Guitar, whose understated electronics frame the more straight-up rock & roll most on offer elsewhere. As for those remaining eight tracks, the band now seems more dedicated than ever to working on a vein of neo-psychedelic pop sprawl -- calling a song "The Future Is Obsolete" is both clever and knowing, a nod not only to how what is forward-looking can quickly become the past but how it might not matter much in the end. Peter Marchese's low, moody vocal cool is as much a familiar element as everything he and Jeramy Koepping (and guests) produce musically, from understated bass loops to lengthy drones and building swirls of feedback -- and more than once, as on part of "Ocean Grey," the band definitely seems to want to be reaching for the sublime sonic violence that fellow Seattlites Kinski have made their own. But put it all together and Voyager One make it their own little corner of zoned/raging band heroics, drawing on a variety of eras and sounds rather than simply recloning one over and over again. Meanwhile, where they let their electronic impulses come to the fore, as with the strikingly dramatic "The Kids Take Control," which calls to mind Mezzanine-era Massive Attack more than any My Bloody Valentine knockoff, the end results can be quite moving.”
Three Imaginary Girls Review Voyager One’s Live Show
http://www.threeimaginarygirls.com/voyagerone07apr “Voyager One close the night with a more straightforward set than I expected. Since their launch in 1998, they’ve disappeared and reappeared several times growing and changing in the process. Named for a famous/tremendous Verve bootleg, Voyager One followed closely in Verve’s sonic footsteps in their initial material.
Their most recent release, Dissolver, while continuing the spacey approach of their previous work, found a little snarl and rock attitude in songs like album opener “Salvation.” It’s that version of Voyager One that takes the stage tonight. This Voyager One is more aggressive, singer Peter Marchese more confident and vital in his role up front than ever before.
They sound tight; though the rhythm section feels a little, “pro-gear, pro-looks, pro-attitude” for the band’s shoegazer roots, they do serve the goddess rock well tonight. Voyager One has always been the kind of band that encourages me to stop thinking and just soak in the sounds, partly because of the all-engulfing guitars, partly because of the nouveau-psyche imagery projected behind them, and that’s what I do tonight.”
Voyager One- The Future is Obsolete
http://hypem.com/track/536369 “If anyone out there is clever enough to invent a spam filter for my snail mailbox, please get working on it…it really is a shame when bands like Seattle's Voyager One slip through the cracks…”
Afterhours in the Afterlife Review
http://lostinyourinbox.blog-city.com/voyager_one.htm “Voyager One is taking me away and I am most definitely a willing passenger. I love the thick, fuzzy synths and the trippy, swirling electronic clouds of sound and the smooth vocals and the downtempo beats of the drums. They couldn't have a better name for the feeling their music evokes…”
Voyager One and German/Japanese Band Guitar Head for the “Afterlife”
http://www.harpmagazine.com/news/detail.cfm?article=12345 For Seattle experimentalist Voyager One, when it came time to make their next album they turned to the collaboration well - specifically, with German/Japanese experimental band Guitar (Michael Lueckner/Ayako Akashiba). The trans-continental combos wrote songs over the Internet, and as V1’s Marchese notes, the results :turned out fantastically.” The group’s label, Loveless records, adds, “This album is filled with subtle surprises and beautiful blends of sounds, which are bound to turn heads.” Indeed, on key tracks such as “The Future Is Obsolete,” “Ocean Grey” and “Bed Of Sound,” one hears typically trance-inducing guitar lines, dubby/soulful percussion laced with the occasional Motorik beat, and no shortage of vintage synth, sampler and sequencer textures.
Voyager One “Afterhours in the Afterlife” Album Review
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:w9ftxzyjld6e “Voyager One's slow-burn persistence in following their take on the shoegaze dream has ended up serving them well over time -- where their earlier work was at best yet another re-creation of a massively influential yet subcultural sound, on Afterhours in the Afterlife they seem to have finally started becoming their own band, in a conditional and low-key way. Interestingly, part of this comes from outside collaborators, with the opening and closing songs being done with fellow neo-gaze freaks Guitar, whose understated electronics frame the more straight-up rock & roll most on offer elsewhere. As for those remaining eight tracks, the band now seems more dedicated than ever to working on a vein of neo-psychedelic pop sprawl -- calling a song "The Future Is Obsolete" is both clever and knowing, a nod not only to how what is forward-looking can quickly become the past but how it might not matter much in the end. Peter Marchese's low, moody vocal cool is as much a familiar element as everything he and Jeramy Koepping (and guests) produce musically, from understated bass loops to lengthy drones and building swirls of feedback -- and more than once, as on part of "Ocean Grey," the band definitely seems to want to be reaching for the sublime sonic violence that fellow Seattlites Kinski have made their own. But put it all together and Voyager One make it their own little corner of zoned/raging band heroics, drawing on a variety of eras and sounds rather than simply recloning one over and over again. Meanwhile, where they let their electronic impulses come to the fore, as with the strikingly dramatic "The Kids Take Control," which calls to mind Mezzanine-era Massive Attack more than any My Bloody Valentine knockoff, the end results can be quite moving.”
Three Imaginary Girls Review Voyager One’s Live Show
http://www.threeimaginarygirls.com/voyagerone07apr “Voyager One close the night with a more straightforward set than I expected. Since their launch in 1998, they’ve disappeared and reappeared several times growing and changing in the process. Named for a famous/tremendous Verve bootleg, Voyager One followed closely in Verve’s sonic footsteps in their initial material.
Their most recent release, Dissolver, while continuing the spacey approach of their previous work, found a little snarl and rock attitude in songs like album opener “Salvation.” It’s that version of Voyager One that takes the stage tonight. This Voyager One is more aggressive, singer Peter Marchese more confident and vital in his role up front than ever before.
They sound tight; though the rhythm section feels a little, “pro-gear, pro-looks, pro-attitude” for the band’s shoegazer roots, they do serve the goddess rock well tonight. Voyager One has always been the kind of band that encourages me to stop thinking and just soak in the sounds, partly because of the all-engulfing guitars, partly because of the nouveau-psyche imagery projected behind them, and that’s what I do tonight.”
Change is constant but for Seattle's Voyager One, the five-piece has kept the core of its shimmering, sonic endeavor completely intact. Granted, the band's fourth album shifts slightly toward electronic musings with greater emphasis on synthesizer swirls and fuzzy phrases as well as tiny hints of dance floor ambitions with beats and bass lines that summon the body. That said, the lush dreamscapes retain the churning drones and twinkling guitars. And of course, Peter Marchese's reverb-laden vocals to guide listeners through the expanse. To call it psychedelic is helpful but not complete; these trips invite the body, not just the mind. DOWNLOAD: "Ocean Grey"
- Shawn Telford
It’s tempting to file the surging drone of Voyager One under the rubric of psychedelia, but that just wouldn’t do justice to the sprawling vision of guitarist/singer/producer Jeramy Koepping and his band, which recalls an empyrean choir, or perhaps a flock of low-end and effects-pedal-wielding angels brushing your cheek. The Seattle quintet tends to draw God Speed You Black Emperor and Sigur Ros fans, but V1’s moody slo-mo tsunamis on Monster Zero aren’t the kinds of melancholic fugues that bog down those other bands; no, these “tracks” are pointed, unsentimental deluges of sensory overload that hit the head, the heart and the gut in equal measure.
- Andrew Lentz, LA Weekly
And where many would fail, Voyager One ultimately succeed, crafting an album with a sound just prickly and bombastic enough to do old Ghidrah justice. Guitars with a half-life of about 10,000 years soar and strafe, while Tony Zuniga’s drums flatten the landscape. The whole record sounds like it was recorded in an immense cavern, with a dense mix slathered in huge reverb. For most of the album, Voyager One comprises five people generating as much sound as possible, employing loops, keyboards, guitars, samples, voices, horns, cello, and truckloads of drums... Voyager One delivers a space-rock outing that brings just as much rock as space to your speakers, a balance that’s not often achieved. Furthermore, it slaughters their 2000 debut From The New Nation Of Long Shadows, which was already pretty good to begin with.
- Joe Tangari, Pitchfork
Nearly two years have passed since the arrival of From the New Nation of Long Shadows, Voyager One’s first proper full-length, and by any account, they have been years well spent. Whereas New Nation was completed in just 13 days, Monster Zero took 13 long months. And whereas New Nation faltered in places, at increasing odds with itself as it moved further along in running time, Monster Zero is more cohesive, more elaborate, more mature, and more visionary... Exactly why or how V1 was able to do on Monster Zero what it could not on New Nation is a curious thought. In addition to the band’s propensity for experimentation, a personnel change might have had an effect on output.... Whatever the reason, Monster Zero sees the band in its present incarnation pushing toward the elusive, intricate songwriting of Radiohead (I think “Snow Angel Summer” and the title track are testament to this) without sacrificing the pop sensibility that endears them to so many denizens of the Seattle indie scene. Voyager One has leapt off the shoegazers’ clouds and reached for its own stratospheric heights.
- Eric J. Iannelli, Ink19
Voyager One takes us back to a time when all you needed to make an album was a steady rhythm section, a wisp of a melody and guitars cranked way past the point of pain. What critics and fans lovingly dubbed “shoegazer” rock back in the early 90s is making a comeback in the hands of this Seattle quintet, and while skeptics of the genre won’t be swayed, fans will be in hog heaven. Led by singer/guitarist Peter Marchese, Voyager One rides the tunes on an ever-so-slightly dance-inflected groove, then saturates them with six string squalling. E-bow, distortion, phasing, delay, you name it-if it’s a guitar pedal, it was probably used on this record. Bow your head, twirl your volume knob and ache along with Voyager One.
- Michael Toland, High Bias
Seattle-gruppa Voyager One ble startet i 1998 av Jeramy Koepping med det mål å lage “sonic, groove-oriented psychedelia”. Med andrealbumet Monster Zero skaper de sin egen narkotiske drømmeverden der inntrykkene flyter forbi før de forsvinner ut i en sjø av underbevissthet. Voyager One og Monster Zero kan neppe kalles musikalsk nyskapende, men skulle tilfredstille fans av småsvevete, halvhypnotisk alternativ-rock.
- Dag Erik Asbjørnsen, Musikkguiden Groove.no
This Seattle band’s third album sounds like their best yet - majestic psychedelic space-rock ranging from ethereal, trance-inducing drones to epic rockers that explode with blissed-out guitar noise.
- Don Yates, music director of KEXP seattle.
The staccato drumbeats at the beginning of “Out In The Marketplace” are a sure tip-off. Then comes the somber keyboard, followed by the disembodied electronic voices. Uh-oh! Shoegazers! The real vocals kick in on “Gun,” Peter Marchese’s breathy aura wafting over a bed of keys and sinewy guitar. “Snow Angel Summer” is something that might be on the Meddle album if Pink Floyd did it today, with lots of layers to explore, including an ethereal cello solo at song’s end. Tony Zuniga has the marching-to-war drums going again for “Monster Zero,” this time wrestling with trumpets while a keyboard simulates a crazed zither.
Voyager One make tasteful use of loops and sampling. Everything here is seamless. “Three Pair” leans toward a traditional radio-ready song structure; verse/chorus/solo, and is the hookiest tune on the disc. Still, it retains enough of an avant-guard feel to not be out of place. A bit of punnyness goes into the title of “Praise The Lowered;” hey, even the depressed have a laugh once in awhile. Voyager One has produced the soundtrack; now you produce the movie. Grade: A
- Kevin Wierzbick, Campus Circle Magazine
So it’s best to just focus on Voyager One’s thick, rich soundscapes. Swirls of distorted guitars and dreamy feedback help to create a wall of sound that is both beautiful and challenging. They bring to mind My Bloody Valentine and early Verve, but they don’t bow down at the altar of the influences and coast on that. They create their world and gracefully play around in it.
This is a beautiful release; perplexing and hypnotic and, most of all, smart.
- Erik Pepple, Sponic
Face it, kid. That new My Bloody Valentine record is never coming out. Seattle’s Voyager One, however, should cure any itch to play air-bass into some speakers, scavenge for melodies under a wall of guitars or, especially, gaze at one’s shoes. Let the gazing begin.
- Christopher R. Weingarten: CMJ New Music Report Issue: 789 - Nov 18, 2002
Mostly, what I hear is a superbly crafted album that drifts without getting lost and grooves without feeling forced. I hear indie elitists letting down their guard and cooing, and stoner kids saying “whoa, dude!” In Monster Zero I hear the perfect come up, come down, and come on album. What my co-workers are hearing, however, is “Tokyoinidaho” -- yet again. I really should play the rest of the album for them, shouldn’t I?
- Craig Young, Earpolution
However, a disc with a nerdy, Saturday Afternoon Japanese creature feature title like Monster Zero has some seriously large shoes to fill. There had better be fear, uncertainty, sonic booms, entire towns leveled, buildings crumbling to dust, green dragons -- well, you get the point. Luckily, Voyager One don’t disappoint. This music lives in a realm of smoke and fog that suspends time, full of anticipation for something that has either passed or is lurking on a twilit horizon. It is the immediate aftermath of an A-bomb -- everyone laying low, awaiting the next attack. Indeed, the disc’s landscape is designed to keep listeners wondering why it’s so calm...and all the while, nameless mutated things are gurgling in the depths, waiting to pounce when they’re least expected.
- Dave Madden, Splendid
Spacey, ethereal loops blend with traditional rock elements to create a unique and creative recipe for entertaining music on Monster Zero. The five-piece, Seattle-based group Voyager One released its second album in two years, and it’s not too shabby. With a plethora of different instruments beyond the bass, drums and guitar, listen for subtle hints of hidden and manipulated brass, some eerie pedal steel and the ever-present use of trippy samples. Fans will enjoy deep, dubby bass, echoed snares, highly reverbed clean and distorted guitar and calm, melodic vocals. Seemingly a more mellow and sophisticated sounding rock, Voyager One is a must for those into the experimental facets of modern rock.
- - Jason Hicks, Synthesis
Voyager One is sending you out to space. The aliens of Planet X have announced that Monster Zero is living on their planet and will soon be sent to Earth to destroy it all. The natural reaction is to go into space with guns blazing, and send all the fire power you have (like Godzilla and Rodan) to Planet X in order to circumvent the threat... But if you go into space, you want to make sure you can come back. Voyager One’s second broadly released album, Monster Zero, is this beckon call to space. The asteroid-level revolutions the band made with their last album, From the New Nation of Long Shadows, have been expanded so far that they no longer are elliptical paths around Earth, but rather free flowing paths around the galaxy as they mature their British-via-Seattle shoegaze invasion into something more experimental and not as easily pinpointed. While the aliens might have thought tricking Godzilla and Rodan to leave Earth would have been a great plan, Voyager One show us both how to get to space and how to mellow out and come back down to Earth. With the aliens of Planet X defeated, the score is Voyager: 1, Monster: 0.
- Jim Steed, FakeJazz
Considering most rock bands aim no higher than the pelvis or that Pabst you’re tilting into your piehole, Monster Zero is a welcome deviation from the norm. Anyone who’s ever swooned to Ocean Rain or A Storm In Heaven will appreciate Voyager One’s mellifluous, mammoth opuses. Occasionally they take a too-familiar Ride with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (and radio will love them for it), but more often than not, they evoke the tension between the druggy and the erotic found in shoegazing’s craftiest artists.
- Dave Segal, The Stranger
Local appearances included the “Sonic Youth at their most experimental” Kinski, and the young, lunar, floating brilliance of Voyager One.
- Edna Gonzalez, Earpollution
Voyager One, 6:15 p.m. Disciples of such astral voyagers as the Spaceman 3 and Spiritualized, Seattle’s Voyager One finally logged in their travels on CD with this year’s outstanding “From the New Nation of Long Shadows” (Loveless).
- Joe Ehrbar, Seattle PI
Heavy and hallucinatory pop and deeply groovy psychedelic space-rock transcendence from Seattle’s Voyager One. A spacey gospel-pop-narcotic like Spiritualized, gargantuan guitar-rock like Loop, psychedelic and dangerous like some of The Verve’s wilder output, louder than love like their hometown’s grunge heyday but supremely melodic? Includes a terrifically slow-motion cover of The Beatles’ “Daytripper” that will land on compilation tapes by all High Fidelity types. For fans of the aforementioned, Spacemen 3, those early Ride EPs, The 7% Solution and Submarine, you’ll be absolutely floored!
- June Featured Item at Parasol
My guilty pleasure of the month. Straight up cool stoner shoegaze. Fool your friends with the “lost Ride/Slowdive/Spacemen 3” collaboration. Great vocals are very appreciated today.
- Staff Picks, Insound
If you are deeply into shoegaze and space rock, Voyager One might just be your great white hope. If not, there is still reason to check out Voyager One; the band has eaten and digested decades of British rock so you don’t have to.
- Jim Steed, Fakejazz
This Seattle’s band official full-length debut album is a strong outing of neo-psychedelic space-rock.
- Don Yates, Program Director, KEXP 90.3 FM Seattle
If you like swirls of Quaalude-ridden guitar and waves of head-melting sonic bliss, voyager one will fulfill your shoegazing addiction. This Seattle-based psychedelic groove-pop band creates gorgeous and spatial sound structures to travel far, far away in, al a Spiritualized and Spaceman 3.
- Riffage.com’s featured alternative artist
Spacey, ethereal pop...creating a cosmic amalgam full of musical moonbeams ...adding a psychedelic flavor to their sonic swirl....Pass the Valium.
- Magnet
From The New Nation of Long Shadows...quickly ushers the listener off for a manic journey through a variety of states both sleepy and intoxicating...they glide along the vast terrain smoothly and surely, creeping when they want to creep, and soothing when they want to soothe. Then, without notice, they slip effortlessly into THE BEATLES’ “Daytripper”, quietly churning out their own take on the timeless classic. A bold move...
- Shawn Telford, The Rocket
It’s rare that a band can take slow-to-medium speed minimalism into the sky, but on their new album FROM THE NEW NATION OF LONG SHADOWS, they deliver just that. Tracks like “Slower California” and “Bess” are space rock rainbows, demonstrating a command of the pedal board unseen since the early days of THE VERVE and SLOWDIVE. Light tones circle heavy riffs in a chiaroscuro circus, and the record’s centerpiece, “Poisoner’s Waltz,” delivers a slow-swing epic that envelops the mind’s eye with little puffy clouds accross a sonic sky... Live these clouds often release a torrent, as the band creates a sweeping wall of sound that would make Nick McCabe proud.
- Michael Shilling, Resonance, Issue 26
If dreams were made of iron, the songs of Voyager One would be their soundtrack. Aptly named for an early interstellar mission, Voyager One buttress their ethereal, space rock compositions with a steely guitar edge. Their deftly structured songs give titanium walls to exploratory sounds. ...this is pure, liquid gold space rock for occasionally lucid space cadets.
- Dave Linjengren, The Rocket
