Michael Plaster, the ethereal alchemist behind soulwhirlingsomewhere, resurfaces after a two-decade hiatus with a meditative plunge into ambient soundscapes under the enigmatic moniker "yttriphie". Pronounced “IH-tri-fee” (like “atrophy” but with a whisper of insistence), his debut ambient release "An Extremely Slow Motion Explosion" is a cosmic lullaby for entropy itself, carrying the listener along its gentle currents of decay and beauty.

From the first shimmering note of “oh”, it’s clear this is no ordinary ambient record. The album feels like walking through the memory of a dream that wasn’t yours but somehow still haunts you. Plaster’s fascination with entropy - our universal destiny to dissipate - imbues every track with a quiet poignancy.

Take “siderius”, a celestial drift that hums like starlight filtering through the void. Its layers are delicate but deliberate, creating the sensation of falling upward into the unknown. Meanwhile, “yrsta-fiirn” evokes the cold majesty of a glacier carving its way into history - a hymn for ice that knows its eventual fate.

The album's centerpiece, “anexslom”, stretches to nearly 12 minutes, a sprawling meditation that builds from barely-there whispers to a crescendo that feels as if it’s gazing at the heat death of the universe and sighing, “Well, I suppose that’s fair”.

But for all its conceptual weight, "An Extremely Slow Motion Explosion" never feels ponderous. Plaster’s knack for melody shines through even in the album’s most vaporous moments. The piano on “there is no sun” knells with a somber intimacy, while “unsettled apsis” dances on crystalline pads that shimmer like frost under moonlight.

Plaster’s return to music after twenty years is like a message in a bottle washed ashore: wistful, timeless, and deeply personal. He wants us to hear the entropy in the air, the flow of everything falling apart yet coming together in its own sublime way.

For fans of Sigur Rós’ quieter moments or the ambient meditations of David Sylvian, "An Extremely Slow Motion Explosion" is a tranquil, immersive experience that rewards both passive listening and introspective wandering. It’s not just an album - it’s a river you can step into, again and again, and never find the same water twice.