The Kármán line is widely regarded as the edge of space. It is where our Earth meets the cosmos; the threshold which contains all life on Earth. Seemingly straddling this line is the music of New Jersey’s Michael Keane’s, AKA Textbook Maneuver, which balances grounded rhythms with celestial melodies and textures. On the recent collection “Adrenaline Slapped, One Two Two” from Life Science Records, Keane compiles synthetic anomalies, drifting arrangements, and capricious notation to create music that retains an understated sophistication while pursuing its cosmic ambitions.  

The listener is invited to float on a river of ever-evolving soundscapes on the opening “Adrenaline Slapped”, while the remix from µ-Ziq takes the soft edges and sharpens them, resulting in a more danceable and energetic iteration. The off-kilter melodic lines of “Birds” is given a heavenly remix by Branched Off, with bouncy phrases reverberating around optimistic drum patterns that seem incapable of settling, always rushing towards the stars with a youthful gusto. While samples of birdsong have become cliché in instrumental music, here they are used subtly and with good cause, helping to reinforce the album’s earthly inspirations without overutilising their potential for New-age whackery. “Places” is perhaps the most immediately beautiful composition here, and drifting ambient sounds are paired with delayed drum strokes, inquisitive phrasings, and sparkling synth work to arrive at a transitory feeling, like a stargazer who has finally plucked up the courage to build themselves a rocket. The closer “I Get It, You Just Don’t Get It” is a more EDM-adjacent affair, with its pulsating beats and loose structures building to enticing heights before breaking itself apart and falling back down to earth. 

“Adrenaline Slapped, One Two Two” isn’t concerned with grabbing attention by being boisterous or overly flashy. Instead, it employs low-key vibrations and restrained foundations to conjure a sense of weightlessness, as one might feel while falling through space, admiring the beauty of the universe on the way down. 

★★★★