It was 1982; an unknown and blind composer named Pauline Anna Strom released her first album, “Trans​-​Millenia Consort.” The album cover featured a broken egg and a gray eye coming out of it, its expressionless gaze pointing directly at the viewer through a window made of the cosmos and two rainbows.

From the eye's side of the window, there are gray clouds and a clear blue sky; from our side, there is just a colorless abstraction of emptiness, needed to not clutter the vinyl envelope. The gray eye emerging from an egg could symbolize the author's blindness—an easy interpretation and a common motif found across the internet. Yet, I find it meaningful to mention.

I'm captivated by how the eye's universe is framed by rainbows and the cosmos. It's as if beyond the confines of the eggshell, surpassing the gray clouds and the intangible sky, there exists a world of color in the cosmos that the colorless eye wants to reach. However, even the cosmos itself is enclosed within another rainbow, suggesting more color beyond the intangible void. And all of this is framed within our vinyl cover! This small rectangle becomes the window to the cosmos, representing the esoteric and the exoteric, the answer and the question.

This intuition is confirmed when the needle hits the vinyl, and we are greeted by beautiful field recordings, expansive environments, and synth portamentos reminiscent of a combination of a wind machine and the crying of a mythological creature.

In the Golden Pear's review, we grappled with the issue of the New Age in music. Here, once again, we will discuss a composer who further challenges this label.

We observe that some of the most famous 'New Age composers' tend towards minimalism. This trend is evident in both contemporary composers (Salamander, Golden Pear) and classics (Kitarō, Yanni). However, Pauline's music is by no means minimalistic; quite the contrary, she crafts experiences with minimal repetition. Every sonic element presented serves as a prelude to a new novelty. Despite almost her entire career being built around two instruments and a field recorder, her timbral palette is remarkably rich.

Her sonic imagination is incredibly beautiful; a recording of washing a cabbage in a bucket of water is transformed into an 'Emerald Pool.' In 'Blood Thirst,' she is capable of transforming a simple melodic statement into a wide nocturnal landscape filled with falling stars, night critters, and intense feelings of desire.

Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, she had to cease making music and even sell her music equipment. She remained inactive for nearly 30 years. Recently, she regained fame thanks to the internet and social media, and she felt the urge to compose once more. Tragically, she passed away during this creative resurgence.

RVNG is presently distributing remastered versions of Pauline Strom's works. On the 10th and 11th of November, they released 'Echoes, Spaces, Lines' and 'Plot Zero,' which together comprise nearly 30 musical universes to explore.

If you're seeking a completely new experience while also yearning for the nostalgia of the New Age's golden era, let's pay homage to the recently departed artist who cherished music as a way of experiencing the world, not just esoterically, but also exoterically. I invite you to listen to her beautiful and deeply personal world.

Listen on Spotify.

Author: Martín Cacho

Martín is a video game composer, producer and writer from Sonora, México.