Stratus is duo Mat Anthony and Martin Jenkins. Their debut release 'Uplink' was released on Howie Bs infamous Pussyfoot imprint in 2000. Since then they have remixed Serge Gainsbourg, Calexico, Lambchop, Japanese minimalists Honolulu, Howie Beck and Soft Machine's Kevin Ayers as Stratus whilst producing and remixing under a host of other monikers. Their debut album 'Fear of Magnetism' is out in spring 2005 on Klein Records, combining classic pop sensibilities and fragile electronica with touches of psychedelia, alt. country and a smear of garage rock. Sharing a love for the productions of Brian Wilson, the Flaming Lips, David Axelrod and Joe Meek they create mini symphonies that delight and confound your ears, emotively rich but with the knack of knowing a simple but beautiful melody when they hear one. They are also are part of the Optimus collective who have remixed Playgroup, Kylie Minogue, Magnet, Brazilian singer Cibelle, 80s new wave group Minimal Compact and the music of avant garde circus outfit Cirque du Soleil. Stratus album notes 1. Barocco - inspired by a sense of the decadent and the bizarre.. the opening kind of reminds us of the work of A Clockwork Orange composer and arranger Wendy Carlos (who was once Walter Carlos).. the sound of debauchery dressed up in a regal costume 2. Uplink - The track that started it all.. It just evolved into an epic, almost to see how for we could go in a wall of noise and loving the strange things you sometimes hear that aren't there but just seem to appear with the friction between different tones. We wanted something melancholic and bittersweet but ultimately uplifting - a nihilistic anthem that keeps on rising. Originally an instrumental we hooked up with Canadian artist Howie Beck for a remix of one of his tunes - loved his voice and lyrics so it made perfect sense for him to breathe some new life into the track and give us cause to re-visit and re-work it. 3. Vapour - Kind of a weird track - probably comes from listening to Joe Meek, David Axelrod and Brian Wilson in the same week - we can't remember - but we knew it had a good energy to it - driving beats and the changing signature. The vox section at the end brings it all together, takes it way up - if the hairs on the back of your neck go up then it's working.. and we're suckers for a dirty drum coda at the end! 4. Rainy Day - just captured that feeling of water in the air, when the world is wet and green and plants smell beautiful. What better feeling is there than the first few drops of rain on your face? 5. Curio - It took long time to get this track together. We wanted something beautiful but broken, to evoke a sense of space and wonder but also something discovered, something precious almost like archaeology - like digging up an ancient relic. 6. Interlude I - just a landscape, a skewed perspective 7. Theme - A piece for the open country - music from an imaginary frontier. delicate and beautiful but jagged around the edges with the sawing electric guitar. Maybe like a vista from a Cormac McCarthy book - a savage beauty. 8. Downstream - This throws just about everything in the pot but we still think we got away with it. A warm sound, optimistic and eager. Conjured images of lazy days and the idea of just floating away downstream, still something high on our agenda. 9. Interlude II - a heartbeat, sinking into the depths 10. Looking Glass - Touches of psychedelia and a hint of Wonderland the music conjures a kaleidoscopic view, childhood fantasies that linger, immersed in distant worlds. We like the instrumental but then we hooked up with the great Asha Puthli, a dream come true. She gave us the sound of a fallen angel. 11. Fear of Magnetism - Perhaps the title is a metaphor for the unknown, the strange or the different - the fact that we fear what we don't understand. 12. Sine Psalm - a song about beauty in the eye of the beholder, finding it in the smallest detail... nature's imperfection and consequent perfection. 13. The Fear - The hardest track to finish, to put down and let go. Certainly a song about love and the space between people.