M'Ocean is an album of electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 ambient music

Ambient music

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

 by the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 musician Michael Stearns

Michael Stearns

Michael Stearns is a United States musician and composer of ambient music. He is also known as a film composer, sound designer and soundtrack producer for large format films, theatrical films, documentaries, commercials, and themed attractions....

. It is a collection of seven pieces, either live performances or studio engineered tracks, produced between 1978 and 1982.

The album was given a first release under Michael Stearns' own label, Continuum Montage, in 1983, with the title Light Play. It was reissued as M'Ocean on CD the following year by Sonic Atmospheres, after Stearns signed to them. It has been reissued in 2000 along with much of Stearns' early works on his own label Earth Turtle.

Overview

• "Sirens" was entirely composed on an Oberheim OB8 synthesizer, one of the first digitally controlled analog synths. Stearns composed the piece just after having set up the synthesizer.
• "Marriage Chords" was composed for Stearns' wedding with Susan harper in 1980. The piece is actually the live recording performed by Stearns for the ceremony on the Serge modular synthesizer.
• "M'Ocean" is a sequencer driven with whirling scales of notes that give a hint of the track escalators that would come up with the album Chronos. The title "M'Ocean" stands for "My Ocean" and "Motion".
• "Lightplay" is a more ambient track with massive and multi-layered chords.
• "Vicki's Dance" was performed and recorded live at the Continuum studio, during Emily Conrad's classes. It's en early Stearns' piece, that reminds previous works such as Ancient Leaves or Morning Jewel.
• "Fireflies Delight" is a sequencer driven track that sounds a bit like the track "M'Ocean".
• "Walking Song" is a short Igor Stravinsky
  Igor Stravinsky
  Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
  
  piece that Stearns transcribed for the synthesizer.

Track listing

1. "Sirens" – 5:04
2. "Marriage Chords" – 9:40
3. "M'Ocean" – 6:40
4. "Lightplay" – 7:11
5. "Vicki's Dance" – 5:25
6. "Fireflies' Delight" – 9:38
7. "Walking Song" – 2:21