Over the course of the past ten-plus years STS9 has not so much created musical compositions as they have crafted atmospheres, different musical worlds, or at least ways to look at our world differently through music. This is perhaps most true of their most recent album ‘Ad Explorata,’ of which they are currently touring in support. According to STS9’s website the album is “inspired by the idea that there is always more to be discovered, manifested by the belief that you can always push towards the unknown and unexplored, and created by the will and desire for constant artistic evolution, expression and change.” And after listening to the twelve tracks that make up ‘Ad Explorata,’ it’s clear that the band did indeed accomplish what they set out to do. Even without prior knowledge of the intended theme, as it were, of the album one gets the feeling that the intention of this group of recordings is to push limits, move forward and put the listener in a beautiful trance, to take the listener somewhere unexplored, even if that place is only in their own head.