The strong 20-minute «Celistia» kicking off the 70-minute album already propels the listener into mesmerizing higher spheres along a trail of nocturnal environmental sounds where the veil of night shimmers through beautifully. It’s an ambient expanse full of meditative, powerful, graceful, serene, and luminous splendor evolving slowly but surely before the mind’s eye even when some of the tracks next in line prove much shorter.

As Max wrote in his press notes he treated this recording as a mysterious and serene world that slowly awakens to unfold a previously hidden magic and that’s stirring the subliminal «Heart of the Night» and «Indigo Sphinxes…» most clearly. «Timelapse» picks up the uplift drift again with textures morphing into infinite depths where after the 20-minute «Moon Apparition» brings along an intense immersive closing to this slow breathing ambient space with imminent organic currents.
«Nocturnes II» is a very well accomplished achievement.

Exploiting the potential of looping, reverb, processing, and sequencing in his productions, Corbacho sculpts deep soundworlds that radiate and shimmer in largely serene manner, though there are moments where the material assumes a dark and mysterious aspect. Synthesizer-generated waves of crystalline sound overlap, building into resonant, harmonious wholes that often reverberate like some primal force. In meditative fashion, the music unfolds with patient deliberation, Corbacho content to allow the material to blossom like some natural phenomenon rendered at half-speed, and likening its effect to a state of deep slumber isn’t unwarranted. While it is characterized by organic flow, it’s not static: sixteen minutes into «The Beginning of Remembering,» for instance, a noticeable rise in intensity and volume introduces an ominous element of foreboding into its otherwise starry-eyed presentation. As dynamic as that opener is, the subsequent «Soul of the World» and nineteen-minute title setting swell even more dramatically, their epic expanses suggestive of exploding star clusters.

Ambient music’s often characterized as time-suspending and Corbacho’s is no exception, especially when the Spanish electronic artist’s taste runs to long-form immersion. It’s easy to get swept up by his soundscapes, so much so that as the recording plays the immediacy of the physical world with all its distractions and noise falls to the wayside. Is there anything here the ambient aficionado hasn’t heard before? Probably not, to be honest, but if your appetite for deep space ambient is insatiable, Source of Present shouldn’t be overlooked. Corbacho certainly does it as well as anyone.
December 2017

How are you? Who is Max Corbacho? How did you become an ambient artist?

Max Corbacho is simply a human being. The question of who I am is the fundamental question of our life. We are here to remember who we are. So, I’m on it! My relationship with ambient music, began when I heard the great pioneers in the genre such as Steve Roach, Robert Rich and Vidna Obmana., among others.

 How is music important in your life?

Music is a form of expression closer to me. In fact any artistic expression, it is. However, the music contains the essence of all and above all, has the ability to introduce us to the great and ineffable mystery of our existence as any other.

Your music induces very spiritual experiences. What emotions do you want to share with your music?

I would like to convey the feeling that everything is within us. The entire universe is hidden deep in there. Often we spend our lives complaining about everything that happens in the world but nobody want to change anything in ourselves. Is the approach we have followed since man is man. Changing everything around us. But we continue like 40,000 years ago. We have gone through thousands of revolutions, wars and conflicts. But we continue like 40,000 years ago. Change, first, ourselves. It is the key. If you change, the world changes. There is only one revolution possible, the Individual Revolution. The world is a reflection of ourselves.

I hope in the emergence of a new global consciousness from the belief that all, are one. Everything is connected.

 Where do you get inspiration? Which artists did influence your music?

The inspiration is so volatile that it is difficult to answer this question. Sometimes you must, stay one night in the desert to find it, climb a mountain, and others, comes as you wash the dishes. The question is, why come to us when we are in the desert one night? Well, because at that time, we are ourselves, with nothing, free from the tyranny of our thoughts (which, coincidentally, always refer to past or future, ever, to present). It is in the absence of such a tyranny that we are ourselves. And we are free to create. We must remain at the present moment, minute by minute. The inspiration will be with us. Climbing a mountain or doing the dishes.

There are many artists that influence my music. But fundamentally, on the classical side, Bach, Debussy, Stravinsky and all symphonists of the 20th century.

In the field of jazz, of course Miles Davis, and all masters of the genre.

In electronic music, the great German pioneers, Klaus Shulze, Tangerine Dream, and in the ambient – space music, Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana and Michael Stearns.

 Let´s take a look on your music. You´ve released 9 albums. Which one do you like most? Which one is most important for you and why?

Well, to be honest, I think the work that has made me reach a large number of fans, is «The Talisman». I think not because it is better or worse than others but because, somehow, was an album that all my listeners were waiting, and hit an incredible way with the public.

Recently, your new album Ars Lucis was released. Together with it, your two older albums The Resonant Memory Of Earth and BreathStream were rereleased on CD. Can you tell us shortly about each one of your re-release?

Yes, BreathStream first was released as a digital download-only delivery, at full CD quality through Musiczeit. But during one year, I received many emails from listeners who, I confess, like me, love the physical format, and complaining about the inability to achieve BreathStream on CD. That claim made me decide to edit them in CD format.

 And on «The Resonant Memory of Earth», is one of my old works in Space for Music and out of stock. He continued to have high demand, so, too, have made a reissue on our label, ad21music. This time, remastered in 24 bit and with some changes to the artwork.

What is your relationship to eastern spiritual techniques like yoga or meditation in it´s many variants?

Yes, for years I practice yoga and meditation. Thousands of years ago that this knowledge is there, as the only way to free ourselves from our ego, and get to be ourselves. I am an avid reader of Eastern philosophies, but do not stay in the simple reading, because they are only the finger pointing to the moon, not the moon. To make this wisdom, penetrate within, we must practice.

Which synthetizers do you prefer? Do you like pure analog sound, or do you use also digital and software tools and instruments?

I confess that I never had an analog synthesizer. But yes, I have one of that called Analog Modeling, for example, my Korg Z1. I’ve never been an analog purist, I do not like fundamentalism. Surely if ever falls into my hands on a Yamaha CS80 will not say No! I love them! but has not given the opportunity and, frankly, I know friends who have sold them because they are not easy to maintain. My current setup consists of:

• – Korg Triton Extreme
• – Korg Triton (Classic)
• – Korg Z1 expanded
• – Novation Supernova
• – Soundcraft Mixer
• – Lexicon PCM 80 reverb

 And an assortment of software sequencers and plug-ins. Most of my music is based on my hardware synths. Although I’ve tried, I could not get comfortable with software synthesizers. I’m an old man!

 What are your future plans?

Always continue creating music. It is my vehicle of life. I hope to have this opportunity for very long time. Currently collects new techniques in composition, harmony, and at the level of editing sounds on synthesizers, samplers, etc. Always investigate before starting a new project. I like to offer new things, but always in my style.

«This is an evocative release where the melody, wrapped up in floating textures, goes through a universe of magic and mystery. The CD in general could be labelled as Ambient / Space Music.
However, the melodies and the rhythms incorporate elements of World Music, as well as Industrial traits. The music is slow, although it does not lack rhythm in certain themes or passages. The rhythmic structure of the music tends to be based on the percussion. The melodies are dense, unearthly, enigmatic».