We are extremely proud to announce the new album from Tuxedomoon’s Blaine L. Reininger, now a Dark Companion artist. Ocean Planet is an ambient-avangarde opera written and recorded and mixed by Blaine himself in Athens, Greece and it is composed by 12 tracks, deeply intense, atmospheric and introspective.

The beautiful cover is taken from a paining of Blaine’s wife, Maria Panourgia. Some of the tracks were laying in Blaine’s drawer since a while when producer Max Marchini discovered that some of them, here proposed, fitted perfecly one after the other, describing a wonderful, intimistic continuum.

Ocean Planet, Blaine’s debut on Dark Companion, was born. By the way, that’s natural for our company’s name was borrowed by an old Tuxedomoon’s tune. Most of the song are made for this album, while some others were formely intended for other use, as Blaine writes in the booklet:

*”Shelley Hellas” uses a text from an epic poem by Percy Bysse Shelley called “Hellas”. It was commissioned for a project at the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center, Athens, called “A Song for Greece”.

†”Bones” uses quotes from a text by Samuel Beckett, commissioned for a Greek theatrical project.

‡ “Ocean Planet” and “Incantations” were used in a production for the Greek National Theatre of Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida” directed by my wife, Maria Panourgia.

§”Iris” was used in a Greek production of Albert Camus’ “The Misunderstanding” directed by Yannis Houvardas.

The album was mastered by Alberto Callegari at legendary Elfo Studios in Tavernago (PC).

This is the tracklist:

01. Ocean Planet ‡

02. Obscured

03. Shelley Hellas*

04. Firefly

05. Bis Gems

06. Parc de la Villette (Another Fine Messiaen)

07. Pluie en Bas

08. Bones †

09. Incantations ‡

10. Slightly Rusty

11. Iris §

12. Un Giro