The Ancient Cosmonauts are a collective formed around the Munich trumpet player Michael Treetop Voss (Feed LA, former Poets of Rhythm). They explore the spaces opening in a harmonically underdefined cosmos of singular voices structured by the beat of drums. With stories based on the fundamental experience of human life, the Ancient Cosmonauts connect with their listeners using the language of soul, the energy of funk and the freedom of jazz.
“Free as I Wanna Be” initially was written and performed as a solo piece for trumpet. It is about self determination and empowerment, which are prerequisites for both individual and collective freedom. The band arrangement starts off with an up-tempo conga and hi hat pulse as one is enclosed in the elegiac horn melody. Driving collective rhythm parts and the duet of lead singer Cris Soaz and Treetop add contrast and context to fully reflect the joys of freedom.
The flip side “Intergalactical Travel” is a musical meditation on the Voyager probes, their trajectories into infinite space and the frail and fading connections to their terrestrial birth place back here on Earth.