Now three studio albums in since Daevid Allen sailed off this mortal coil, what’s striking about this latest release from Gong is how self-possessed they sound. Headed by the irrepressible Kavus Torabi, they’re not just running with the baton Allen handed onto them. Instead, they’ve forged their own unique identity while remaining true to the original spirit of Gong, making music that’s both playful and exploratory, enraptured by the possibilities of the invisible worlds around us.
Thematically, Unending Ascending picks up where 2019’s The Universe Also Collapses left off, inspired by the realm of “subatomic dreams” and the hidden mysteries that reside there. Of course, this could also be read as an analogue for the psychedelic experience itself, where the holy sacrament of LSD reveals reality to be a mere fabrication of our everyday perceptions. And Torabi has talked before about his desire for Gong to create modern yet authentic psychedelia – not only a disorientation of the senses, but a reorientation too.
