Álvaro Domene & Álvaro Pérez

Escape Velocity arrives like a comet streaking through a night sky that’s already been lit by Álvaro Domene and Álvaro Pérez’s previous explosions. Building upon the cinematic vastness of Radical Accretion (2021), the cosmic breadth of Circumstellar (2023), and the introspective weight of Re‑Entry (2024), the duo’s intertwined artistry channels Free-jazz’s untamed spirit, experimental electronic rhythmic textures, metal’s fierce intensity, and political urgency into a radiant, otherworldly soundscape. 

Pérez’s alto and soprano saxophones command attention as they bloom with searing agility and heartfelt depth, a voice both wild and tender, while Domene’s guitars and electronic drums sculpt tectonic rhythms and shimmering sonic patterns that respond and evolve in dynamic and shapeshifting dialogue. Sculpted with care at Domene’s Singularity Studio, Escape Velocity captures the intimate synergy of two visionary musicians confronting chaos and crafting escape, proving the duo isn’t just bending musical gravity, they’ve built a new orbital path entirely their own.


LINER NOTES, written by Luke Keller, award-winning Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Ithaca College, New York.

Starlit Disillusion

Looking up, looking out, looking into the celestial sphere through the solid angle of my field of view. I see star light luminous, waves of ancient light continuous. Star light filtered and distorted by life giving atmosphere. Turbulence, scattering, worrying, warning, makes the stars twinkle, or does it? The continuous star light waves are illusory. They travel as waves; we experience them as dancing particles. Photons in a spectrum of frequency, energy, and timeless motion.


Celestial Call

What if I could travel up and towards those stars? In gratitude making that journey with my gift of imagination in exchange for the stellar gift of luminance. Me like a photon with time dialed down to zero seconds per second. Traveling and yet not leaving. What if I could ascend from the space-time well and transcend the horizon of curvature that Earth creates for us. That comforting, safe, nurturing gravitational embrace. Do you feel the stars calling? Can you imagine the journey? All it takes is velocity.


Propulsion

A spark. Sitting on plentiful energy, potential energy. Ignition. Potential transformed to kinetic, to velocity. Ever increasing velocity, acceleration, action, reaction. A tenuous glimpse beyond the terrestrial spacetime horizon. I have the potential. Collected, condensed, stored up for the journey I feel I can now begin. Must...go...faster.


Gravitational Distortion

Spacetime continuum curved toward the mass-energy concentration that is my home planet and flowing into it. I travel a straight line, swimming up stream, only to end where I began. Acceleration transforms that circle into a growing spiral. Outwards, energy increasing. Velocity inflates the orbit that has confined me. Longing for the flat spacetime that leads to the stars. The light traveled that plain to reach me. The flow of curvature-gravity has attenuated. Can I enter that plateau of curvature-gravity where inertia enables effortless motion?


Escape Velocity

Acceleration due to propulsion. Cresting the spacetime hill gives me a dynamic view of out there. I could always see it, but my reference frame kept me planet-bound. Acceleration due to propulsion is now equal to acceleration due to curvature-gravity. Swimming up and out. Equalling that inward flow towards confinement.
Escape is certain now. Just a little more effort will start the celestial journey.


Boundless Ascent

Spacetime continuum flat as far as the mind can imagine. Near zero curvature-gravity makes progress effortless. Motion from pure inertia. Newton and Einstein met in the middle, shook hands, and winked. Gave their blessing to our journey. Onward. Ascending above and away from the well containing Earth and on towards the stars. Their light-now-particle flux illuminates the way. As always.


Skyward

When we're in the sky and there is no sky. We see the planetary atmosphere as a translucent layer below. Thin. Receding away as we climb. The sky below and what was the sky, the celestial sphere still lies above in all directions. We have chosen the direction, maybe even the star. Or, if we like, just coast. No destination will disappoint here in the cosmic expanding spacetime.


The Awakening

At the journey's beginning we felt awake, but we slept in a curvature-gravity daze. Reaching escape velocity pulls us free of the haze. A powerful clearing of the horizon-barrier. All is dark ahead and yet there remain the stars. And we stream away. Still looking into the celestial sphere through the solid angle of our field of view now expanded and leaving the sky behind and the journey ahead. Alert, awake. Can the view get any brighter? We will see.

Music written and recorded between mid October and December of 2023 by Álvaro Domene and Álvaro Pérez.

Á. Domene: electric guitar, drum computer-sampler, recording
Á. Pérez: alto and soprano saxophones, recording

Mixed and Mastered by Domene at Singularity Studio, Kingston New York. 

alvarodomene.com

Published by Dometone Music BMI and SGAE Spain

Album Cover by Ed Keller:  aum.aumstudio.org
Liner Notes by Luke Keller:  www.ithaca.edu/faculty/lkeller/research