Having enjoyed Rudy Adrian’s MoonWater when I reviewed it a couple years back, I was pleased when his newest, Distant Stars, showed up in my mailbox. I burned it into iTunes, got it onto the ‘pod, sat down to listen…and then waited. Waited for it to be more than it is. Because while Distant Stars is a decent interpretation of a standard-issue spacemusic disc, it’s only that: a standard-issue spacemusic disc. It’s light and slow-moving, powered by long pads with the requisite rushes of sonic wind and glittering star-twinkle, but it never seems to aspire to anything deeper or more complex and offers nothing that truly sets it apart. From an ambient standpoint, Distant Stars does hit the mark fairly well. I’d suggest it works better as a quiet background loop than as a focused listen. Adrian is good at crafting emotive flows. Those are certainly here but somehow they lack weight or the sort impact that stops you in your tracks and makes you listen, which is perhaps what I kept waiting for. There’s nothing that I can particularly call out on Distant Stars as objectionable, disruptive or bumpy, and I can’t give a more distinct description of what’s lacking for me other than to say this disc is just there. I like Adrian’s music, but Distant Stars is something of a miss for me.

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