'Space Station Earth' Ilan Eshkeri's new album out May

Renowned composer, Ilan Eshkeri has announced the forthcoming release on 13 May 2022 of his latest studio album ‘Space Station Earth‘ on Sony Masterworks with the advance single, ‘Aurora’ out now.

FIRST TRACK ‘AURORA’ OUT TODAY – LISTEN HERE

To accompany the recording, Eshkeri has created an immersive multi-media concert in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), which from Spring 2022 will tour the UK and Europe. ‘Space Station Earth’ is a music-led, multimedia experience that allows the audience to see through the eyes of astronauts and to contemplate our planet, the stars and the exploration of the universe. For this unique show, award-winning composer and show creator Ilan Eshkeri has combined his exceptional compositions as heard on the new album with both rare footage shot by astronauts aboard the International Space Station as well as with images from ESA locations. This rare footage will be projected across three massive screens together with a stunning light show to create an incredible audience experience. Without dialogue/narration, audiences can expect to lose themselves in the wonderful combination of emotionally charged music and extraordinary visuals and leave filled with awe and wonder.

The album likewise explores and expresses through music the astronauts’ emotional experience in space through a combination of modern electronic and vintage acoustic instruments. Ilan Eshkeri explains: “My music has taken to me to many unexpected and extraordinary places, but when Astronaut Tim Peake got in touch to say he was a fan of my work, a door was opened to one of the most amazing and inspiring journeys of my life, the result of which is ‘Space Station Earth’. When I was a child I was learning the violin, whilst at the same time my brother and I were obsessed with playing synthesisers. I was also given an electric guitar for my 13th birthday. Until now I had never found a project to bring my love of all of these together and as a kid, I also never imagined I’d have the privilege of collaborating with astronauts to try to impart the experience of space travel through music, of looking out into the darkness of space and back upon beautiful and fragile planet and telling that story”.

The first single, released today to announce the album is ‘Aurora’ on which Eshkeri comments: “Seeing the aurora borealis is an epic experience and I wanted to express the scale and majesty of it in music. We waited in deep snow to see it and after several fruitless hours, we were about to give up, when suddenly the clouds parted and we observed the most spectacular light show in the sky. It was magical, awe-inspiring and it touched my soul. I have synaesthesia, which means I associate specific colours with specific notes and sounds, so standing under the aurora, I knew immediately what the music had to be. The astronauts have also shot mind-blowing footage of the aurora borealis, which we use in the concert, so until space tourism becomes an everyday occurrence, ‘Space Station Earth’ is the closest you’ll get”.

Thanks to unprecedented access provided by ESA, Eshkeri was able acquire extraordinary first-hand experience which provided an invaluable source of inspiration for the album. “I got to see rocket launches, a zero-gravity flight, and a chance to get lost in their video archive as well as the opportunity to get advice from ESA scientists and Astronauts”, Eshkeri notes. “I started creating the music with synthesisers and spent a few days coming up with different ideas. Then I started to add strings, brass and choir to deliver the awe-inspiring, epic scale that only an orchestra can”. ESA astronaut Tim Peake adds: “There aren’t many words that can truly describe the beauty of seeing Earth from space and ‘Space Station Earth’ attempts to do this by using music and video to capture the emotion of human spaceflight and exploration. Featuring previously unreleased footage from ESA astronauts and accompanied by a live orchestra, the show creates a unique experience, one that celebrates space and unites the audience, just as exploration unites humankind”.

Ilan Eshkeri – Space Station Earth

ALBUM TRACKLISTING –