Perhaps the only way to make sense of Emeralds' sprawling output of glistening ambient recordings is as a series of improv sessions, which -- despite the frequent lack of discernible instrumentation -- is frequently exactly what they are.

Solar Bridge was the first Emeralds release to receive any kind of distribution above the CD-R/cassette level, even making it onto LP.

Consisting of two side-long pieces -- "Magic" and "The Quaking Mess" -- the music is deep and meditative, flowing textures that somehow scan as simultaneously organic and synthetic.

Despite its futuristic overtones -- in the sense that pure electronic music is, for now, perpetually futurist -- Mark McGuire, John Elliot, and Steve Hauschildt have created a truly timeless sound that could have sprung from the underground at any point since the early '70s.

A few minutes into the disc's latter half, "The Quaking Mess," McGuire's guitar becomes audible (somewhat), his loops building in asymmetrical cycles, not unlike Robert Fripp's, and Emeralds' cogs are momentarily revealed.

Just as quickly, though, the sounds wash over them, and Solar Bridge is back in the cosmic slipstream.