After a series of pleasant but forgettable choral recordings,
Walter Schumann teamed with fellow composer
Leith Stevens to create the remarkable
Exploring the Unknown, a dramatic and innovative space-pop fantasia that punctuates its lush orchestration and celestial vocals with chilling spoken word narration contributions from actor
Paul Frees. Tracing the arc of an interstellar adventure from launch through descent, the album brilliantly captures both the childlike wonder and alien foreboding of the world beyond Earth. To their credit, the creators treat the material with the utmost seriousness, lending gravitas to the sensation of weightlessness.