Easily the best so far from Steve Barnes, who is honing his talents as Divine Matrix with some superb space music creations. “Atmospheric Variations” presents a drifting, gently rhythmic style with nicely programmed sequences giving a genuine contemporary Tangerine Dream feel. Nothing is overdone here, there is a wonderful subtly that draws you in, and Steve cleverly allows some nice sequences to build with variation while underpinning some exquisite drifting pads and atmospherics and interesting rhythms and melodies.
Steve also knows how to bring tension and dynamics in and out of the musical spectrum, along with some clever twists and turns that never depart from the overall spacey feel of the album, ensuring that our attention never wanders. There are some real gems here, from the excellent sequencing of “1000 Light years” to the magnificent, awesome TD inspired “Birth of a Cyclone” to the gently spacey title track. This is a stunning album worthy of any melodic EM fan’s investigation.