Through the Thought Horizon takes place in the original void from which all universes emanated. A first collaboration of David Helpling and Scott Reich, this is a beautiful, deeply resonant album, an instrumental sound experience steeped in the philosophy of poets like Rumi and Rilke. The feeling is immediately harmonically balanced and calming, the overall flow allows for sightseeing while you are napping. This album is about returning, not to what was, but to what is. What is home, what is who we really are. This music will not bring you there, but it might help you to consider that you are already there.
Released on the venerable Spotted Peccary Music label, this debut collaboration is a mystery without darkness, a celestial exploration that feels both like a journey toward a destination and a gentle realization that you have now arrived. The DNA of the album is rooted in a profound conversational nature — not just between two musicians, but between the self and the “inner sanctum.” This may very well be music for fans of Jonn Serrie, Brian Eno, and Harold Budd.
Utilizing his Yamaha CP70 electric grand and a chain of hardware synthesizers routed “wet” through an SSL analog console, Helpling creates a bed of shimmering textures, cinematic atmospheres and electric rainbows. While the album features a variety of grand piano sounds, mostly sampled virtual instruments played with such organic, modal sophistication by Reich that the line between digital and physical dissolves entirely. Helpling adds his new dimensions and layers of illumination, evoking depths like the ocean and the shifting colors of gradual infinite twilight.
The album operates at a glacial, reverent pace, where reverb isn’t just an effect, it’s an environment. Opening with a singular, revelatory piano ping that summons oceans of calming waves, “The Simplest of Miracles” is an orchestral expansion that feels both massive and intimate. Synth shadows dance behind a piano melody that mimics the slow-motion clarity of waking up “Into Our First World.” An ascent into the void on track 4, “Shadows, Stars and Dreams,” a warm piano presence leads the way and ensures the listener never feels lost in the vacuum of deep space.
A standout lyrical piece, without words, “Fallen Skies, Remember Me,” track 7, communicates a tragic, poetic meter through rising strings, a sad love song for the cosmos. Adding hints of Reich’s jazz background with sophisticated chord changes and a light groove that acts as a bridge to the sky, track 8 “The Primordial Tower,” where there is no darkness here.
As Reich notes, the album stands as a justification for expression itself. For the listener, it provides the perfect soundtrack for “sightseeing while napping,” a lush, high-fidelity reminder of who we really are. Through the Thought Horizon is a harmonically balanced, cinematic experience meant to facilitate transcendence, a living document of two artists in perfect sync.
You can read more about David Helpling’s previous collaborations, starting with The Precious Dark, here. Learn more about Spotted Peccary Music and their respective works here.
Ambient fans can listen to Through the Thought Horizon through the platform of their choice: https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/through-the-thought-horizon/.
