The Moon & The Stars

If your mind needs peace, you need to reflect, or fall into deep thought, then Richard deHove's debut album "Worlds Beyond Number" may help.

The first track, "The Good Earth", has been used in several online multimedia presentations and the huge response prompted Richard to collect some of his works into an album. "I was amazed at the response," says Richard. "I got hundreds of emails asking about a CD.

More recently Richard was contacted by one of the Apollo 8 astronauts whose NASA radio communications are part of the track 'The Good Earth'.

"I was amazed when I received the email from William Anders," says Richard. "I was a small child when the Apollo program was in full swing and the astronauts from those days are like heroes from some past age. To be directly contacted by William Anders was an incredible thrill and honor."

Anders saw "The Good Earth" webshow on www.frontiermultimedia.com and loved it. "He bought 20 copies of the CD to distribute to his friends," says Richard.

Gentle choir themes and strings predominate on the CD, but there's also a some exotic instrumentation and ambient synthesizer backgrounds.

"My main aim is always to create a work which pulls you in, calms you, blocks out all other distractions and then allows the mind to go where it will," says Richard.

"If you're already tired then the mind will often take you straight to sleep. That was a problem for me during mixing - I was given a dangerously comfortable chair, and if it was late at night I'd rarely make it through a single track without falling asleep !

"At other times I can sit back, focus on a thought, and drift with that in a sort of timeless haze.

"But if you do concentrate on the detail, you'll notice a continuous, subtle evolution. I think that's what helps give it a hypnotic quality."

The album title, "Worlds Beyond Number", brings together the space themes found in many of the tracks.

"There is a fantastic beauty and grandeur and mystery to the stars," says Richard. "Humans have been studying the sky for thousands of years and we're still just at the beginning. And I think it's fascinating that those who have been in space often go to the Bible to help describe their feelings.

"I've included some of those radio messages from NASA astronauts in the tracks and they seem to fit perfectly with the mood. I especially like Psalm 8:3 which inspired 'The Moon & The Stars' which runs:

When I consider thy heavens,
The work of thy fingers,
The moon & the stars,
Which thou hast ordained;
What is man,
That thou art mindful of him ?

While the album is primarily electronic, it was mastered by acoustic music specialist Geoff Francis at Huon Delta Studios in the tranquil woodlands of Tasmania. That unusual mastering decision has given the album a warmer touch and brought out more natural harmonics.

It was a real challenge for Geoff as the frequencies and timbres were quite different from the usual acoustic mixes.

"I wanted a fresh approach," says Richard. "I didn't want someone to just give it a standard treatment based on genre. Geoff used his acoustic mastering skills to give the album a beautiful harmonic finish."

"I hope 'Worlds Beyond Number' brings you peace."

Richard can be contacted through his website at www.harmonicpeace.com