Tharsis Rise by Ion / David J. Hughes

Tharsis Rise has an interesting and very personal origin. Around Christmas 2024, my son, Christopher, asked a question:

“Daddy, can you write some music so that I have something to listen to when I travel to Mars in my dreams?”

To Chris, Mars isn’t just a small round object in a telescope eyepiece and neither is it a distant dusty world without much of an atmosphere. Mars is his second home. He’s as certain of that fact as you can imagine.

Chris is very, very interested in Mars and he’s particularly interested in the Mars Rovers, namely Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance. I’ve lost count of the number of times he’s watched NASA’s animated movies detailing the journey of Curiosity from its launch pad in Florida to touch down via Sky Crane on the Martian surface. The other day, he actually found footage of those landings that I hadn’t seen before and it’s often hard to remember he’s just six years old.

Chris regards those rovers as friends. He wants to visit them. He thinks they’re a bit lonely. He also wants explore Mars even though its cold, windy and there’s not much to do other than count rocks.

So, challenge accepted.

The result is Tharis Rise, which is about an imaginary flight over the surface of the planet Mars.

Tharis Rise was composed over several months during the spring and summer of the year twenty twenty five. If all goes according to plan, it should be released about eighteen months before SpaceX put a humanoid robot on the surface of Mars.

Enjoy the journey.

Thinking Metal Music was established in 1995 by composer David James Hughes, which means that 2025 is the thirtieth anniversary of the label's founding.

Expect plenty of new releases in this very special year.

thinkingmetal.co.uk