Leo Mars or formerly know as the Leo Mars Ensemble is Marcel T?rkowsky and Stephane Leonard. Both have been playing, improvising, writing and recording experimental and drone for quite a while.

"Lightears" is a collection of seven tightly wound electronic and noise pieces with a sound harkening back to early Japanese power electronics. The material utilizes a range of sources: distorted organs, tape loops, short wave radio, to general hum, noise and probably various other sounds.

I am kind of on the fence here. At first I disliked this work a lot. It was too dense, too noisy and grating to the ears, but it took me a few listens to actually appreciate the form and manipulation of noise on display. My one gripe is that for a duo who have been active for a long time and obviously tested themselves across many projects I was hoping for more range to be found than what is on offer. Although I enjoyed many individual moments, as a whole it did not completely satisfy. I felt they slightly over-used their sound sources in too short a time. But having said that it is not that long anyway, feeling more like an extended EP. A smart move ensuring the tracks do not overstay their welcome. I believe with more care taken Leo Mars can expand and refine the techniques used here to create a better release in the future. 5/10 -- Zac Keiller (17 September, 2008)