Recorded live at MSL studio with mixing and editing by Michael Shipway.
All tracks composed and performed by Michael Shipway and Drums on track 6 and Steve Smith

Michael Shipway and Steve Smith are two English electronic musicians who on "Through The Rings" present their third musical outing as VoLt.
Bringing in a lot of musical experience as well as typical British humor ("No synthesizers were harmed during the making of this album"), the duo composes music that results in a melodical variation on the Berlin School.
The opening track "Journey To The Rim" is a fantastic example of the many things that VoLt is capable of. It brings back the nice times from the early nineties when serious electronic music was rising again after a difficult period but it also contains some beautiful passages that easily could be used as film music.
The filmy quality of VoLt music continues in "Dark Entrance". The title track has the most references to the Berlin School style. Starting with samples of Mellotron choirs, it moves into a great sequencer piece with perhaps the best patterns they have come up with so far. These guys know what they are doing!
"Soaring Benaeth The Surface" could again be a soundtrack but now for an horror movie because it begins very dark and industrial. But after darkness comes sunshine because great sequences take over and they start to solo.
It brings back memories of John Dyson’s "Evolution".
Is there a EM British School? Yes, and VoLt are the leading tutors.
Press Information


Anticipation, Fear, Excitement, Hope....
by accident or design, these four improvised pieces reflect our different moods at the time of recording, which we hope you will share as you listen.
Michael Shipway


Fans of Wavestar will love this music which develops into sequencer pieces with warm solos reminiscent of John Dyson. These long cuts are ideal mind journeys that show Michael and Steve’s evolution into their own unique trademark sounds. Theirs is an essence that makes electronic music a collection of individual artists who don’t copy but put their own stamp on the aural experience of this genre.
The softness of the first track gives way to darkness and uncertainty in the second piece, appropriately titled "Dark Entrance", which melds into a lead solo that evokes the dark entrance into a new reality, reminding me of a new beginning after a painful loss or experience.
"Through The Rings" evokes images of a cosmic encounter beyond our understanding. Beautifully melodic but foreboding, this piece evolves with a soft and reassuring solo that’s positive and leads us through the uncertainty, followed by the sequencer machinations of complex beauty.
"Soaring Beneath The Surface" starts with a deep space feeling, then develops into a rigidly intricate sequencer track of crystalline electronic music similar to a lighter version of Free System Project.
The darkness, while evident, is just part of the feeling. With Volt, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
Pat Murphy / USA