“The Heavenly Scrolls: Book Of The Bear” is the latest release by Mason Van Kraayenburg, an outstanding solo artist based in Houston, Texas, whose music transverses the expansive sonic universe. Heavily promoted with “Ursa Minor,” “Lynx,” “Leo Minor,” “Drago,” “Camelopardalis,” “Corona Borealis,” and “Canes Venatici,” compositions that initially appeared as standalone singles on streaming platforms, this exceptional effort arrives as Mason Van Kraayenburg’s debut full-length album. Aesthetically, “The Heavenly Scrolls: Book Of The Bear” sonically charts 88 modern constellations, making this material not only appropriate to music enthusiasts but also those who find astronomy an interesting topic worth exploring even further, beyond the scientific approach. Soundwise, the artist embraces several different but complementary music genres to vividly illustrate rich and luxurious sonic imagery. Perhaps post-rock comes to mind, but you’ll unquestionably notice how some of the finest properties borrowed from progressive rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock, art rock, cinematic ambient, and many more found their way into this sonic equation. The artist uses all these additional sonic ingredients as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to elevate his music to new heights while solely remaining in the initial sonic direction. Therefore, these experimentations with many different but complementary styles resulted in a comprehensive collection of magnificent compositions that will unquestionably appeal to even the pickiest music enthusiasts.
As soon as you press play, you’ll notice that Mason Van Kraayenburg poured heart and soul while writing, composing, arranging, recording, and producing this material. He’s not joking around with his music and that’s vividly hearable from scratch to finish. Each composition arrives with many impressive, jaw-dropping, mesmerizing sonic and rhythmic maneuvers that will satisfy even those listeners who stumble upon this longevous music genre for the first time. Compositions like “Corona Borealis” and “Canes Venatici” vividly showcase what you might expect from the remainder of the album, with the entire amalgam of technically demanding, otherworldly leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, accentuations, chord progressions, riffs, and other sonic delicacies. The guitar work sets the tone and shapes the ambiance that guides you through this expansive sonic universe from beginning to end. Mason Van Kraayenburg thoroughly planned all these guitar interplays and layers, ensuring that each listener retains attention during each song. In the meantime, the rhythmic structures based upon cleverly assembled, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated, organic or electronic, robust or subtle beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keep the remainder of the instrumentations in line while dictating groove and pace. The wide range of various rhythmic patterns makes this material even more interesting, and tracks like “Draco” and “Lynx” showcase the mindblowing rhythmic versatility. Mason Van Kraayenburg’s dedication to the craft is vividly hearable here, positioning him as one of the groundbreaking post-rock artists who think outside of the box when it comes to songwriting and composing music. Most of the artists keep themselves grounded in post-rock cliches, but not Mason Van Kraayenburg. He breaks all the rules and shapeshifts the boundaries of this genre with creativity, precision, and finesse.
Of course, you’ll stumble upon pieces of sonic artistry like “Camelopardalis,” a magnificent work where the artist totally excluded rhythmic sequences in order to showcase the more ambiental, orchestral, otherworldly nature of his music. This piece focuses on cinematic ambiance, heavily supported by the impressive guitar work. You’ll notice how some of the finest ethno and world music elements found their way into this sonic equation, mostly in the form of guitar themes. “Leo Minor” levitates towards the same aesthetics but with subtle electronic beats that immensely support guitar and synth work. Speaking of synths, Mason Van Kraayenburg implemented so many impressive melodies, harmonies, ambiances, and sequences, spicing things up and elevating his music to new heights. It’s nearly mindblowing how all these interplays between guitars and synths work together harmoniously, proving that Mason Van Kraayenburg thought about even the tiniest details and nuances while assembling these tracks. Still, Mason Van Kraayenburg thought not only about the musical but also emotional aesthetics of “The Heavenly Scrolls: Book Of The Bear.” Compositions like “Bootes,” “Ursa Minor,” “Ursa Major,” “Coma Berenices,” and pretty much the majority of the compositions mentioned before carry emotional depth presented through passionate, confident, sincere, powerful themes, orchestrations, and ambiance. There’s a calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal atmosphere continuously lurking around, wrapping around the listening apparatus and refusing to let go long after this album ends. The generous servings of reverb, echo, and delay contribute to the dreamy, echoic, otherworldly quality of the material, further elevating the listening experience. From scratch to finish, “The Heavenly Scrolls: Book Of The Bear” shines with some of the finest ideas and orchestrations you’ll ever hear on the post-rock scene.
With “The Heavenly Scrolls: Book Of The Bear,” Mason Van Kraayenburg has created a post-rock masterpiece worth revisiting over and over again. The incredible collection of jaw-dropping guitar and synth works, equally intricate basslines, and profoundly complex organic and electronic rhythmic patterns shapes a cathartic listening experience that immediately transports you into another dimension, an expansive sonic universe where calm and soothing themes, melodies, and harmonies reign supreme. With his debut, Mason Van Kraayenburg demonstrates all his experience, knowledge, skills, and talent, proving that post-rock music can still sound fresh, innovative, versatile, exciting, and entertaining. You should immediately place “The Heavenly Scrolls: Book Of The Bear” on your music radar because masterpieces like these are very rare nowadays. The album is available on all Bandcamp. Don’t miss it!
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