A superb addition to the space music canon, SECRET OBSERVATORY is the U.S. debut of Swedish electronica artist Stefan Jonsson (who goes by the cryptic handle Between Interval). A strictly electronic outing, Jonsson eschews melody and rhythm in any form, preferring instead to traffic in the realm of deeply expressionistic ambient sonics. Whorls of sound-matter move across the wide canvas here like free-floating asteroids, encountering rushes of wind, deep rumbling bass, and the stray voices of synthesized, heavenly beings (with effects that recall, at times, certain tracks on Brian Eno's MUSIC FOR AIRPORTS). Jonsson makes no effort to make his music "tranquil" and "relaxing," adjectives often used to describe a good deal of ambient electronic music. Instead, SECRET OBSERVATORY genuinely feels like a journey to the outer reaches of the universe, with all of the strangeness, wonder, and beauty such a trip would entail.