Motion Sickness of Time Travel – Ballade for a Wolf Moon Album Review

Drones are serve chilled on Motion Sickness of Time Travel’s Ballade for a Wolf Moon, a classic drone album from 2014.

Between 2013 and 2014, Rachel Evans, recording under the name Motion Sickness of Time Travel, released a staggering 13 EPs of magical, ethereal, immersive ambient music and drone to correspond with the full moons. Deriving their names from The Old Farmer’s Almanac, each album is a nearly hour-long modular synth meditation on the lunar energy of a particular month.

The Wolf Moon is the first Full Moon of the year. It gets its name from the wolves howling at its luminescence, pouring out like silver over whitewashed, snowy landscapes. Evans matches this energy by layering twinkling arpeggios over a hypnotic electrical drone, like fairy lights reflecting on ice and snowbanks while power transformers and ley lines hum nearby. These are gradually joined by a secondary synth, more purposeful and striding, even while the icicle arps continue to twinkle and shine unceasingly. The drones continue, unabated, all the while, making The Ballade of the Full Moon almost dangerously hypnotic, especially with repeat listening.

January 2026’s Full Moon falls in Cancer, its native sign. Cancer also rules the fourth house, the house of the home. The Cancer Full Moon invites you to nurture yourself, to tend to your home so to speak. The Wolf Moon invites you to howl to the skies so that your community can find you. With this full moon, as you let Motion Sickness of Time Travel’s mesmerizing drones wash over you, ask yourself – “is this serving me? What do i stand for? Am i taking care of myself? What do i care about?” The seeds you plant on this Full Moon will flourish and flower, helping you to enjoy a richer, more abundant life.

Ballade for a Wolf Moon was originally self-released by Rachel Evans in 2014 as an edition of 50 CDrs. It was later compiled on Ballades, collecting all 13 full moon recordings.