Fourth solo album and debut on vinyl format by musician and visual artist Roberto Opalio of radical avant-garde duo My Cat Is An Alien. Aurora Coelestis presents two new instantaneous compositions for glockenspiel and voice, recorded in March 2014 at his Alien Studio for audiovisual arts, Torino, Italy. For the first time his musical work is mainly instrumental: Aurora Coelestis is Roberto Opalio’s homage to early minimalism. The work is intended to be listened to at soft volume level, quietly in a room. The same glockenspiel used in the recording has then been cut into pieces to become the core of the spectacular art gallery edition of the album.¨“Roberto Opalio, the more sinister half of My Cat Is An Alien, has finally released a non-lathe solo LP in order to demonstrate his mastery of space junk. The two parts of the title track, “Aurora Coelestis”, are incredible glides through the darkest recesses of solar system. The music was created on glockenspiel, then run through Roberto's homemade electronics in a way that extends celestial glimmering into eruptive plains of infinity. Cosmic burbles worthy of Gong mix with expansive tones that make me think of what Richard Brautigan's Machines of Loving Grace might sound like. It's almost the same as listening to one of those computers that generates sounds from stellar radiation. Beautiful, cold and deep. It will make all of your bones feel very soft. The third piece, “Hic et Nunc” is a piece for manipulated vocals. The title is Latin for “Here and Now” and may refer to either the Gong-related UK band of the '70s, or the impermanence of language, or both. The music is like being sucked through a long tube that lights up and resonates as you pass along sections of it. Alien lips quiver nearby and you can smell a kind of breath you have never smelled before. It's a wonderful trip through bubble time, and one suspects it would be an excellent soundtrack for your next bout with hallucinogens. If that's not your thing, just lie down in the dark and concentrate hard on the sounds. You'll be flying soon enough. Have a nice ride.” – Byron Coley, 2014
This is a private press, handcrafted by Roberto and Maurizio Opalio and released on their own legendary Opax Records. 165 gram black vinyl housed in tri-fold jacket made of fine art 250 gram clear blue textured cardboard, with 12”x16” full color folded cover/insert featuring a portrait of the artist taken by Maurizio Opalio on front and a photographic image by Roberto Opalio on the inside, plus full liner notes. Foreword insert by Byron Coley. The album comes with 3 collector’s editions cover art: each cover features 1 of 3 different 4”x6” original photographs shot by Roberto Opalio mounted on back, representing diverse perspectives of the glockenspiel used by the artist during the session. Handnumbered and handstamped. Limited Private Press of 200.