Tender, airy and spacious, Basinski and Schafer's rich and pure collaboration is like cold water falling on leaves in slow motion, or bittersweet memories transformed into aural tincture.
"Temporal" reminds me of breath and of sky, of storm clouds and shafts of bright light, a story pushing beyond its hurt. Julia Kent elicits such depths of emotion from the cello, in loops and swells, both subtle and momentous. Gorgeous.
Somehow like being caught inside a storm cloud, but tender and warm. With hints of The Necks or Roedelius, the rumbling, prickly piano finds a striking counterpoint in Aidan Baker's meticulous, staticky guitar textures.
Astrïd are always compelling, and this is no exception - the music takes you through landscapes both physical and emotional, prickly and spacious. There's a delicate suspense and a grounding calm to this focused, beautiful album.
A generous tribute and a thrillingly diverse collection of music (even more than the previous two anthologies), "For Ukraine Volume 3" runs the gamut from haunting to calming, epic scale to microscopic texture.
When I first heard "Seiche" I was riveted; such an epic, transcendent work. And its impact endures, especially complemented by the other tactile, soulful pieces here. Call me happily broken.
The melodies here are so timeless and moving. Crompton's warm ambient sounds and vulnerable vocals are pierced by bittersweet static and drones, and such poignant silences. Gorgeous.
Astonishing how electronics and field recordings can be crafted into sound so biological, airy, pensive. Washes, clicks and pulses for the ears and heart.
A great place to discover underrated ambient artists, and tracks from some of my favourites (and to support displaced Ukranian families). A warm, soulful, diverse hour.
A dynamic collaboration of rumbling tension and ecstatic relief that somehow reminds me of being inside an airplane as it ascends through dense cloud into bright, clear air. Expansive, seismic ambience.
Taylor Deupree's surreptitiously complex ambient compositions are prickly and calming all at once. "Fallen" is sparkling, tender and organic warmth for tired ears and bones.
Cinematic, wide-angle, richly textured atmospheres here. Each track is focused, almost astringent, but then there are these surprising twists, like the sun breaking through heavy cloud, or swimming into a cold patch in a dark lake.
Seriously, this is the aural equivalent of a pool of warm sun at the end of a long winter. "Clear Language" is a fluid hymn to gratitude, connectedness and possibility.
So many stunning (and different) worlds within this album - delicate, ominous, buoyant, cryptic. Every track is an uncompromising "investigation of a rock and classical aesthetic", as they say. Tarentel always make me want to hear more Tarentel.
A compelling, densely atmospheric album. For me, somehow a cross between classic Eno & Budd and a drum-less Mogwai, but glacial. Thanks, now I remember how it is to float...
