A strong cast, recordings of “space sounds” and Record Store Day — it seemed like such a great combination.

But, the end result doesn’t quite live up to the galaxy-sized expectations.

Lefse Records released “The Space Project” for Record Store Day on April 19. On the album, musicians blend traditional instrumentation with “sounds” captured by the Voyageur I and II spacecrafts as they traversed the galaxy.

Now, before Neil deGrasse Tyson can act as a scientific buzzkill — like he did in a sketch on “The Daily Show” — let’s point out that sound does not travel in the vacuum of space.

As Lefse Records explained in a news release, the sounds are more man-made than you’d think.

“The ‘sounds’ recorded by the Voyager probes aren’t sounds in the conventional sense; rather, they are electromagnetic radiation fluctuations in the magnetosphere of the planets, moons and large asteroids the Voyager probes traveled near,” the news release states. “Each celestial body is composed of different elements, has its own size and mass, and therefore sounds unique.”

Each armed with their own space sound — er, “electromagnetic radiation fluctuations” — the artists embark on the sort of compilation you’d expect from a space-inspired project: There’s plenty of synthesizers, drones, layers, etc.

The music is at its best when the musicians don’t try to do too much, but problems arise when the album sounds uninspired or when the songs sound as muddled as it is to say “electromagnetic radiation fluctuations in the magnetosphere of the planets.” Try saying that three times fast.

On “Jupiter,” The Antlers take their time and let the droning space readings simmer under sparse horns and keyboards to unfold into a jazz-like, ethereal sound. This is what people want from a space album, at least at first.

For me, the somber “Terraform” by Mutual Benefit is the bright spot of the album, as it weaves a proper space metaphor. Terraforming is the process of modifying a planet’s atmosphere, temperature, etc. to make it habitable. Then there’s “Always Together With You (The Bridge Song)” by Spiritualized and the space-rock connoisseur Jason Pierce, who admitted in an interview to being on autopilot for the track. He was broke, he said in the interview, and the recording promised a paycheck. On first listen, it’s a decent enough song, but then it just feels more like a Spiritualized cover — like something they’ve done before remade.

Youth Lagoon’s “Worms” feels like sucked into a black hole — and not in a good way.

On the surface, the idea is admirable, but once the intrigue wears off the sound meanders into mediocrity. By the end, it just feels like a label stretching out a gimmick to gain airtime for more of its bands. The songs can’t maintain the charm, as it begins to feel like several of the bands are on autopilot — or as it was to Pierce, paycheck mode.