Nick Rhodes & Wendy Bevan - Astronomia II: The Rise of Lyra (2021) Hi-Res

The Duran Duran keyboard player and Bevan, a musical and visual artist, dropped ‘Astronomia I: The Fall of Saturn in March, and will drop the second instalment on June 20.

“In today’s world, we are besieged by information that is often manipulated or untrue, computer enhanced with the intention to draw us in and convince us about an alternate reality on offer,” says Nick, who is gearing up to release Duran Duran’s latest LP ‘Future Past’ in October.

“This has only served to make me want the real thing more than ever. Working with Wendy, together we have been able to circumvent the system of predictable and generic sounds.

“We have created our own unique solar system outside of convention and it feels natural, it has a pulse and a temperature.

“It will survive independently, each album orbiting out there on its own for anyone who is curious enough to tune in.”

She adds: “Once we decided the universe was our subject matter, the sonic world we conceived became a space for dreams.

“We suddenly found ourselves free of boundaries; the concept opened a portal between the reality we were facing in our everyday lives and something other-worldly that we couldn’t quantify, gazing into the endless possibilities of the future.

“Inspired by the lustre of stars, we had the perfect setting to create a musical language. All fifty two pieces we wrote for the ‘Astronomia’ project have become a memoir locked into a time capsule; musical notation to be released into the mysterious abyss.”