Various - tʌntrə x: Apurva

Neotantra: 2021

Given how much music is featured on all these tʌntrə compilations, I do wonder what the selection process entails. I've no doubt folks and friends of Lee Norris are more than happy to send in material, but I'm talking about all the other, less-known names. Can you send in any ol' demo, and Neotantra's head of marketing will just slot you in whenever another edition is ready for export? Do you have to have some material already out on streaming services to even be considered? Or a Discogs entry?

Like, I'd consider myself at least somewhat well-versed in the ambient scene – my scrobbling data assures me it's the most prominent genre of music I gorge myself on. And for sure, having listened to many releases out on this label and others of similar ilk, I've come to learn of several artists I'm more than willing to drop big Bandcamp bucks on. Yet even browsing through a random volume of tʌntrə - III, let's say – I'm confronted with names like E.U.E.R.P.I., Theadelaidean, James Shain, and Sebastian Paul, all fresh to my eyes. Might I enjoy their works to?

Probably, but who's got time to digest them when just a couple months later, we're already on tʌntrə VI, with names like Todd Gerber, Nihhus, Hirotaka Shirotsubaki, and Brómus now crowding in for my attention? Throw in Neotantra's mainline run of albums, not to mention whatever parent label Fantasy Enhancing gets up to, and it can all feel overwhelming in how much is getting released. Add one's desire to explore other corners of the ambient scene while you're at it, and y'all understand why I say it's better to just focus on a select few? Even just this one can potentially leave a regular connoisseur more than sated, which I assume is kinda' the aim Neotantra's been shooting for anyway. Your one-stop shop for whatever ambient needs you may be fixin' for, yo'.

ANYHOW, here's CD2 of tʌntrə x, titled Apurva. Google tells me it's another Sanskrit word, in reference to something unique or newly achieved. Wiki tells me it's an element of ritualistic acts within Vendanta philosophy. Given the nature of the music within, I'm kinda' leaning towards the latter definition as it pertains to the CD, as this is some seriously meditative ambient.

I recognize Encym, Memex, and Natural Life Essence on here, not to mention two-and-a-half 'Moss' projects (MO-DU is half a 'moss', don't deny it!). Names that are new to me include Daniel Vujanic, Tunnelwater, Å Asher-Yates, and D York. Some of it's droney, some of it's bleepy, some of it's heavy on the field recordings, some of it heavier on the acoustic fuzz, but all of it is remarkably tranquil. Like, one, long lethargic drift through a gentle brook, slipping in and out of conscious thought. I wish I had more to say about it as music, but again, going into heavy details track by track is totally missing the point of these CDs.

Various - tʌntrə x: Dvandva

Neotantra: 2021

Yo', dawg, I hear you like reviewing box-sets while still reviewing box-sets, so here's another box-set to review while you're still reviewing other box-sets.

I mean, I guess I could have just “not” gotten this. I certainly have never felt compelled to get any of the tʌntrə digital compilations out of Neotantra, and there's plenty of them to freely nab off their Bandcamp, believe you me. In fact, I think that's partially why I never did. There's almost too much ambient music available in this series now, already up to volume twenty-six, often averaging over twenty compositions with some reaching upwards of twenty, twenty-five, even thirty minutes in runtime. It's a lot of ambient music, is what I'm saying. How much ambient music? Hell, two more box-sets of tʌntrə have come out since this one, also five CDs thick!

It's these box-sets, however, that caught my attention. Make no mistake, I'd love to gorge myself on the digi-comps, but I fear so much of it will fade into the background thrum of wallpaper music, never giving enough of it the attention it deserves. No, for my needs, I'd rather have all the choice cuts curated into thematic sets of reasonable listening duration.

That sorted, let's dive into CD1 of this tʌntrə box-set, subtitled Dvandva. What's 'dvandva'? According to Google, it's a Sanskrit term referring to compound words, and gets more complicated the deeper into linguistics you go. For the purpose of a compilation called tʌntrə, however, I assume it has more to do with yoga teachings of dualities. Or something.

Artists I recognize in this set include Specta Ciera, Martin Allin, Futuregrapher, Darren McClure, and Wil Bolton. I think I also recognize Off Land and Milieu, but haven't heard any of their stuff, at least to my recollection. Still, half of these twelve pieces are from artists I don't know, so great for discovery purposes, right? Sure, if I had a handy index of everything. Yeah, there's a tracklist, but as this is technically a 'DJ set' presented as one single track, everything's continuously mixed, even though most transitions are simple fades. I could studiously keep track of every transition, chronicling who's tune comes next and such as, but eh, that defeats the purpose of listening to ambient music such as this, doesn't it.

As for how Dvandva plays out, there does seem to be a push-pull of tone going on. A calm, tranquil piece will be followed by something a little more atonal, experimental, or abstract, then switch back to a more meditative flow of ambience, and so forth. Or maybe I've subconsciously created that theme thanks to the CD's sub-title. Hey, whatever it takes to give all these beatless, freeform compositions some sort of staying power within my psyche. Is this sustainable for four more discs though? Pft, I'm the guy that somehow managed to talk up Every. Single. CD. of a Pete Namlook tribute box-set. This'll be no th'ang, ha-hah, hah!

ASC - Trans-Neptunian Objects 2

Auxiliary: 2018

James Clements taking his ambient explorations to the furthest reaches of our solar system? Hell, I'm sold! Let's follow that link to wherever the CD can be bought and it's already sold out. Okay, that's on me, rather tardy in getting 'round to nabbing a copy of Trans-Neptunian Objects. Ain't no way I'm missing out on a second edition of this concept series! Maybe I'll get fortunate though, and James will re-issue the first sometime down the line. Hey, he's been offering vinyl editions of his Silent Season albums this past year, so it could happen!

Anyhow, Trans-Neptunian Objects 2 doesn't waste any time letting you know the sort of outing you're in for. Opening track, Varuna (named after a Hindu deity; one of the more prominent bodies discovered in the early days of Kuiper Belt explorations) sounds appropriately desolate and remote, distantly echoing sounds skittering about as a deep space ambience settles in. Layers of drone build in intensity, bringing a sense of awe to the atmosphere, but we're still in the coldest reaches of our solar system, our sonic vista frigid and uninviting despite the subtle glisten of feeble sunlight upon icy bodies.

As if that wasn't enough, second track Huya (named after the rain god Juyá of the Wayuu people; has its own moon) is even more desolate, about as pure a piece of dark ambient drone as you're likely to hear this side of a Silent Universe outing. Deucalion (named after the son of Prometheus; part of the 'cold population') seems to start in similar fashion, but soon comes forth with a more prominent lead of melodic grandeur. It's still all presented in a dark ambient sort of way, the Kuiper Belt forever an uninviting place in Mr. Clements' view. Sometimes though, you have to sit back in your cryopod and respectably take in the impossible remoteness of your surroundings.

Which is just as well, since Typhon (named after one of Zeus' cosmic foes, possibly buried under Mt. Etna; is a binary 'centaur' object) is more melancholic compared to the preceding tracks. In fact, the layers of dubby drone James uses here reminds me more of ASC's Silent Season albums compared to the pure space drone I've heard thus far on Trans-Neptunian Objects 2. Same can be said for Varda (named after the queen of the Valar – that's Tolkien, folks; guess astronomers ran out of names from antiquity lore), but not so much the remaining two tracks.

The bleepy sounds of Mors-Somnus (named after twin Roman gods; likely a merged binary) had me initially thinking something from Fax+, but the ominous, eerie mood quickly brought it back to the realms of dark ambient. Rather cinematic, in fact, while Chaos (oh, c'mon! Naming any moving object in our solar system that is just asking for trouble) has a steady pulsing throb, the sort of rhythm I'd expect out of a Sabled Sun joint. And now I want ASC to somehow appear on Cryo Chamber.

Lucette Bourdin - A Thousand Voices

Dark Duck Records/Fantasy Enhancing: 2010/2021

How long have I been chipping away at this box-set? It doesn't feel like a 'forever thing' yet, but goodness, has it been an age since starting way back in ye' olde date of November 2021. My review of Ancient Memories may as well be ancient memories now, though it is nice things have kinda' ramped up to about a month-per-album rate. Barring any unforeseen happenstance or my gallivanting off on another month-long 'me time' excursion, I should have Retrospective Box Set (2005 – 2017) wrapped before the end of summer! Only thing that can stand in my way is another box-set with a silly alphabetical stipulation clogging up the queue, but what are the chances of that happening, eh? Haha, hah!

A Thousand Voices was the lone album Lucette released for Dark Duck Records in 2010, her time more spent with Earth Mantra that year. There wasn't any particular reason for that, just a fact of circumstance making some additional info I can burn a little more self-imposed word-count on. Look, when one's spent some 8,000+ words on an ambient artist's discography, the talking points run thin.

Seriously though, there is something a little more unique going on with this album compared to most others I've heard from Ms. Bourdin. While her choice in synth pads has remained consistent throughout, this one makes more use of voice synths and choir pads, bringing to fore the New Age aspects of her muse. Yeah, it's not that significant a difference, overall, but when stacked against Lucette's discography, it stands out. Just don't go expecting some artistically challenging conceptual art-house production. Like, if Tim Hecker released an album called A Thousand Voices, you bet your bottom dollar he'd literally use one thousand sampled and recorded voices in crafting an impenetrable wall-of-sound ambient drone opus lauded by music journalists who don't listen to much ambient in the first place as revolutionary. Or something. Nah, dawg, Lucette plays things simpler and direct, yo'.

As for what we get here, it's a straight-forward affair of ambient drone pieces. While the choir pads are heavily featured in a number of tracks, not every one contains them. Alien Prayer relies more on airy synths and a bit of sliding electric fuzz, I s'pose imparting a sci-fi feel to the piece. Strange Landscape has a subtle rhythmic bassline with delicate bell tones and acoustic guitar accompanying its synth leads, bridging that gap into the realms of ambient techno Lucette's flirted with on occasion. Closing track Once Upon A Time more heavily features piano over choir pads, lending the piece to modern classical opulence.

What really caught my eye (and ear, I guess), is In My Room, apparently a homage to The Beach Boys. I honestly have a hard time hearing whether this is a direct cover, what with it being over nine minutes long of choir pads. If it is more or less reinterpreting that classic little song's chord progression though, pretty darn cool, I say.

bvdub - Ten Times The World Lied

Glacial Movements Records: 2020

I feel like I've been name-dropping bvdub forever now, but it's only happened about a half-dozen times, according to internal blog stats. Granted, the first such instance occurred over a half-decade ago, but it's been sporadic since. I cannot deny that assumption in always mentioning Mr. van Wey's project is what led me to finally springing for an album of his. It just didn't make any sense to use him as a frame of reference if I hadn't actually listened to a single CD from the chap.

And as always, if I'm diving into a discography that's nearly fifty albums deep, I may as well do so via one of my preferred labels, in this case Glacial Movements Records. Actually, this choice is as much a statistical certainty as it is practicality, bvdub having featured on the print half a dozen times now, two albums of which were among their first dozen items (sure am dropping 'dozen' by the, erm, dozen this review, huh?). He's a bit of a regular with the label, is what I'm saying, though he has music out on Dronarivm, Kompakt, Darla Records, Quietus Recordings, Auxiliary, and... ooh, Apollo! Not to mention DJ mixes on such trendy music blogs like Resident Advisor, A Strangely Isolated Place, Headphone Commute and the old mnml ssgs. Dude's done the rounds these last dozen years, so plenty of material to gorge myself on should this first outing prove fruitful.

And, well... damn, but is this Ten Times The World Lied ever lovely. For sure it's ambient drone, but done in that melancholic way I typically associate with 36 these days. Not so opulent as Mr. Huddleston's work either, the production deeper and thicker with the layers of timbre – which is about what I'd expect from a project handle with the word 'dub' in it. Can't deny it sometimes gets a bit overwhelming, the endless cascade of reverb and delay almost drowning your senses. Still, it's never so much so that you can't hear whatever piano piece, synth sweep, or string melody is being performed underneath. Like, imagine you were among that herd of blizzard-blasted cattle in the cover art, the wailing winds and frosted ice obscuring your senses, your only warmth a huddle of other beings, weathering the onslaught of the elements. Yeah, it's like that, this album.

Appropriately with a title including Ten Times..., ten tracks make up this album. Brock apparently wrote one on the tenth day of a month, for ten months, spending ten minutes of live improvisation for each piece. Okay, only eight minutes per, because obviously we couldn't fit ten ten-minute tracks onto an eighty-minute CD. Does make me wonder if there's an extended version of this album though, one that could have been digital only.

Regardless, Ten Times The World Lied proved a solid entry point into the world of bvdub for yours truly. Not sure where I'll go from here though, because... well damn, just look at all them albums!

Chihei Hatakeyama / Dirk Serries - The Storm Of Silence

Glacial Movements Records: 2016

It's been a spell since I last talked up Chihei Hatakeyama, and not for a lack of desire. He's simply one of those ambient artists that has hardly any filter, a discography that keeps ballooning to ever greater proportions with each year. It's been six cycles since I first reviewed an item of his (holy cow!), and Lord Discogs lists some forty more items added to his catalogue in that time (holy cow!!). Even if I wanted to jump back in at some point, where do I even begin? I only scoped out Above The Desert because it happened to be among Dronarivm's newer releases at the time. Maybe I should do the same with another trusted label, then? Yeah, Glacial Movement Records, you'll do.

Even better though, this particular release is a pairing with another ambient artist I've long wanted to dive into, if not for an even more daunting discography behind him. Dirk Serries is his real name, but many know him as Vidna Obmana, one of the earlier ambient drone artists that leaned into the dark ambient side of things. Once again, it's that industrial background, caustic noise and sonic experiments eventually morphing into music more contemplative and reflective. He's worked with many prominent names of that scene, including Steve Roach, Alio Die, Robert Rich, and Asmus Tietchens. And like many of his brethren, his nearly four decade old discography lists some one-hundred items on Lord Discogs. That's not even getting into his more recent works as Fear Falls Burning, plus another hundred items under his own name. Where does one start with a catalogue so vast, but I repeat myself.

Sadly, this is hardly the best album to glean a comprehensive conclusion on either man's work. Honestly, even a twenty CD box-set would be lacking, but if you were looking for a definitive work from Chihei or Dirk in The Storm Of Silence, this probably isn't it. I mean, it's only four tracks long! How can any forty-year spanning oeuvre be summed in a mere forty-two minutes? For all I know, this is Misters Hatakeyama and Serries just going through the motions, elder ambient statesmen making music for its own sake, to Hell with challenging the genre, or something. Not that I dislike what I hear, oh no! It'll simply be a lo-o-o-ong while before I come to any sort of judgment on their works, is all.

Anyhow, this is a fairly typical collection of droning ambient as I'd expect from the players involved. Well, maybe not so much Glacial Movements, The Storm Of Silence not quite so cold and foreboding as I've heard from the label. Heck, I'd even call opener Kulde 'warm', in that the minimalist synth pads are rather soothing, wrapping you in a comforting embrace. Each subsequent piece, averaging around eleven-minutes each, gradually ramps up dissonant harmonic tones, but never in a confrontational way. And it's over before you realize it, but this wasn't the last time these two paired up, nosiree.

Lucette Bourdin - Stories From The City

Dark Duck Records/Fantasy Enhancing: 2007/2021

Enough of these cosmic adventures, time to get back home, within the warm embrace of concrete towers, endless glow of street lights, and soothing sounds of sheering steel and burning rubber. What, you don't have all that in your city? Pft, then you haven't truly experience proper urban living. There's nothing like wandering one block, the subtle scent of cherry blossom trees wafting in the air, turning a corner, and receiving the odorous whiplash of street-dweller piss. Haha, just kidding. It's actually the mix of plastic and feces coming from a construction site porta-potty you'll come into contact with, at least in the Vancouver neighbourhoods I roam.

Anyhow, another month, another Lucette Bourdin album. This is one of her earlier albums, her second on Dark Duck Records. It also appears to be another one that uses the original artwork as found on the CD release of this, which leaves me wondering how many others I may have missed after all. Don't get me wrong, some are clearly unique between original and Retrospective Box Set (2005 – 2017). It just seems like I've been on a run where that's not the case anymore. Maybe it's just something unique to the 'S' titled albums? Guess we'll find out whenever I get to the few remaining offerings following this one.

Stories From The City is a simple enough concept, capturing moods and tones I'm sure Lucette felt inspired by when travelling abroad within larger metropolitan areas. Thing is, I didn't really get that sense while playing the album. It's the lack of field recordings. I'm so inundated with ambient artists including all manner of urban street sounds that I just naturally assume any composition drawing influence from such settings will have them in abundance, even if ever-so subtly playing them in the background. I'm seventeen CDs deep into her discography now, and if there's one thing I've noticed Ms. Bourdin seldom utilized, it's field recordings. It's just not her lane. Even when it would totally fit the theme of a particular piece, it's used sparingly (seriously, so few caws in Raven's Dream ...just, so few...)

So we have opener Night Sun, a suitably moody little drone piece that gradually ebbs into something more tranquil and charming, plus an additional effect of stuttering sounds in the background. It's a nice piece of evolving ambient, rather typical of Lucette's sound to this point, but does it impart a feeling of being in the city? Not particularly, no. Like, I could imagine some urban-scape visuals or art supporting the dronier pieces like High Noon or City Interlude, but just about any imagery could when it comes to ambient as artfully abstract as Ms. Bourdin's goes.

Don't take this to mean I'm coming away from Stories From The City disappointed or anything. Lucette had found her ambient groove by this point, and this is another pleasant outing of lovely moods and tones. As I said though, at seventeen CDs deep, that's just my base expectation from her now.

Silent Universe - Stellar Winds

Ignis Fatum: 2015

Pavel finally released a new Silent Universe album! Naturally, I'm currently reviewing his first Silent Universe album, released back in 2015. Because if there's anything you can count on with this blog, it's never being timely in covering new releases. Unless you apply some Theory Of Relativity science behind it, I guess.

Like, from a certain vantage point, Stellar Winds is actually brand-spankin' new, and is the only Silent Universe in existence! What vantage point, you ask? Erm, from the Sirius star system's vantage point, I guess. It's only 8.6 light years away, which is just a little further than the distance Stellar Winds would have travelled had it been broadcast in that direction upon its release date. That's either incredibly awesome or mind-meltingly daunting, depending on your stance. Given that we are dealing with a dark ambient album here, I'm gonna' go with the 'reduces one's sense of being to cosmic mush' option.

But yes, having spent the first half of the '10s exploring all manner of frigid wastelands as Ugasanie, Mr. Malyshkin started branching out with side-projects that didn't quite fit that mould. Polterngeist got in on some occult themes, while Silent Universe set its sights among the stars. Or the nothingness between the stars. Or the Lovecraftian horrors that dwell within dead stars. There's potentially a lot of things to explore out there, is what I'm saying, even if it appears to be a whole lotta' nothing getting there.

I think that's what struck me about Stellar Winds, more a sense of journey in this album compared to his latter offerings. That may be a case of dabbling in various aspects of cosmic drone rather than creating a singular mood, but it cannot be denied Pavel's provided a little journey of sorts. Peering Into The Sky is about as neutral a piece of dark ambient drone can be in this context, letting the overhanging black wash upon you, seeing just how deep into the cosmos we really can peer, whether we should or not.

Oh, this doesn't seem so bad. Nebulas And Clusters offers a little harmonic tone for you, letting the grandeur of these massive, parsec-spanning forms gently flow among an unfathomable void. Speaking of, this piece kinda' reminds me of the opening track from The Infinity Coordinates, if a little more minimalist in execution.

That's about the end of 'tranquility' offered by Stellar Winds. Silent Of Stars is a lengthy drone with the pitch slowly lowerering, as though descending into the abyss. And what do we find on the other side? Pure desolation with Zodiacal Light and Terminator, while In The Meteor Shower has us... wait, is this mechanical breathing I hear? Have I been in a stasis pod all this time? Goodness, I never would have thought I'd have feelings of claustrophobia in an album designed to feel open isolation. There's even a trailing bit of melancholic tone towards the end, implying this grand journey has always been within the mind. Seems about right.

36 & zakè - Stasis Sounds For Long-Distance Space Travel

Past Inside The Present: 2020

Another album from Mr. Huddleston with a cosmic theme? Well damn, you already got all my money for that, but what's this? A collaboration with 'zakè'? Oh my, this is a new wrinkle. Indeed, for much of his career, 36 seldom paired up with other producers, perhaps because much of his muse feels rather intimate, inspiration that may get lost when allowing another being into his musical headspace. Just as well, then, that one of his first collaborations comes with one Zack Frizzell, an ambient artist of some note these days. Huh, how important can he be if this is my first crossing of him, eh?

Well, he's released tons of material in but half a decade, plus many more collaborative works with prominent ambient artists (Black Swan, ASC, Warmth, aural imbalance, bvdub, Joachim Spieth... so many more). He's also appeared on many labels, including Headphone Commute and Kompakt – ah, that would explain how even Pitchfork's Philip F'n Sherburne knows about him. Cool and all, but how's his Bandcamp game- oh...! Oh dear. Look at those labels he runs, each available for a mere fifty Canadian dollars. God damn it...

Anyhow, it is on zakè's most prominent label, Past Inside The Present, that we find his pairing with 36. Dennis has been releasing a few such items on PItP in recent years, but as Mr. Frizzell is always up for a project or two, may as well do a little cross-promotional music in the process. And hoo, is this ever a a humdinger of a concept: nothing less than the soothing serenade of sounds as possibly heard in cryosleep during interstellar travel. Truly, pure fantasy, as being in a near-death state shouldn't make any sort of sonics perceivable. So, maybe more like being in a coma, your senses being fed subtle stimuli mimicking daily, Earthly routines such that you don't even notice the passage of time? For sure I've many dreams where it feels like I've lived entire lifespans entirely independent of my real world experiences. Who's to say we couldn't generate such perceptions for lengthy voyages to the stars, maintaining a healthily active brain while keeping the body inert? Ah, the wonderful realm of sci-fi.

Anyhow, this album is essentially three EPs in one. The first portion, subtitled Stage 1- 4, is where the actual collaboration between Dennis and Zack takes place. The second, subtitled Extended Hypersleep Program, is primarily a 36 joint, while the final section, subtitled Reduction, is zakè. Of the three, I find 36's solo section the most interesting, in that it utilizes ample amounts of field recordings, including rainfall and city life. If I was gonna' be put into an interstellar stasis chamber for an ungodly length of time, I think hearing familiar sounds as found on terra firma would be quite soothing indeed – yes, even the grinding of transit bus breaks. Meanwhile, zakè has a twenty-minute drone piece to close us out, a near-perfect lullaby for the final switch-off of the synapses.

ILUITEQ - Soundtracks For Winter Departures

...txt: 2018

You know how some cover art just speaks to you, recalling moments experienced over and over again? Glancing at this grayscale image and thinking, “Yeah, I've driven that highway.” It's apparently somewhere in Norway, but given how similar the country's coastline mimics mine, you bet your bottom kroner I get all the nostalgia feels from it. So many drives surrounded by misty mountains, looming over your sense of being as you cruise by dense, northern rainforest foliage, just so many... Soundtracks For Winter Departures certainly was high on my 'must get' list of ...txt releases, whenever I perchance'd a purchase there again, which happened sometime around 'pandemic time'. Yep, it's taken me this long to get to it.

In fact, given the name of this project, I initially thought it some producer based out of British Columbia. It certainly sounds like a word that may have come from one of the original languages that dotted the region: Tsimshian, Gitxsan, or maybe one of the smaller ones, like Haida or Kwakiutl. But nay, ILUITEQ comes from a pair of Italians, Sergio Calzoni and Andrea Bellucci. No, not the blind opera singer, that's Andrea Bocelli. Big difference there, my anglophonic friends. Believe me, as an individual with an Italian last name that's seen centuries of variants (since the days of Odysseus!), those two couldn't be further apart in pronunciation.

Anyhow, Andrea Bellucci has been active for some time now, making sporadic records of various genres since the mid-'90s. He had a little success with techno as Red Sector A, which he dusted off for a 2014 record on Italian ambient label Silentes. I'm assuming this is how he fell into the orbit of Mr. Calzoni, who was starting his own ambient explorations as Orghanon at the time. A few years later, the two teamed up to formed ILUITEQ, releasing this here Soundtracks For Winter Departures, where they've maintained a tidy pace of album output ever since.

As befitting an album with such a title and cover art, Misters Bellucci and Calzoni make contemplative, moody ambient music, with melancholic tones and reflective drones. Some pieces even dip into more modern classical territory, such as the strings of In Every Place and piano of Springtime Return, but by and large, we're dealing with traditional synth pads ebbing and flowing throughout each composition. Subtle glitch effects add a bit of spice to each track, and nothing lasts longer than six minutes in length. It don't do much more than what you'd expect, but it do it quite nicely while it do it.

And that kinda' leaves me a bit underwhelmed, if I'm honest. My expectations for ambient music is such that when a pair of competent composers provide a perfectly adequate collection of rainy day drone pieces, I'm left with little else to write about it. I like Soundtracks For Winter Departures as it plays, but were it not for the nostalgia triggering cover art, I wouldn't be able to ID it out of my ambient pile either.

Alpha Wave Movement - Somnus

Harmonic Resonance Recordings: 2018

It's been a long while since I've talked up anything regarding Gregory Kyryluk, if for no better reason than he hasn't been on my radar much. The ambient scene is so utterly filled with prolific artists that many simply slip by the periphery of my attention, even with a few chance crossings over the years. My scene explorations only take me down a few specific roads, the natural paths made when stumbling upon producers and labels via Discogs links and Bandcamp suggestions. It's, like, scary, straying off the path you've made for yourself, lured in by the lights flickering elsewhere, drawing you away from the familiar.

As Alpha Wave Movement, I haven't happened upon Mr. Kyryluk's music, as he's mostly self-released material through his own Harmonic Resonance Recordings. He did offer a few albums to Anodize, a couple of which were under the guise of Within Reason. If that name sounds familiar, it's because it appeared on that gargantuan, elephantine Pete Namlook tribute box-set Die Welt Ist Klang. Yep, even though it's nearly a decade old now, I'm still name-dropping that release.

The most prominent release I've heard from Gregory, however, is one I actually have, Nomadic Impressions as Open Canvas on Waveform Records. If that's drawing a blank, don't worry, it's been even longer since I reviewed it. In fact, I wonder if Mr. Kyryluk is even aware I did? He never made mention of it when he approached me to review this item for him. So it goes sometimes. Oh, right, I've a review to do!

So Alpha Wave Movement. As mentioned, this is Gregory's most prolific alias, currently up to thirty albums in just as many years. With titles like Cosmology, A Distant Signal, Architexture Of Silence, and Yasumu, it's quite clear the more meditative, New Age side of ambient is his main foray, with some explorations of cosmic Berlin-School thrown in for good measure. Like, when you've released in the excess of thirty-plus albums over your career, there's plenty of opportunities to explore the various facets of a chosen genre.

With a title of Somnus, the intention is clear: music for relaxation, drifting synapses, and serenading songs sending you to slumberland. No, not the Waveform compilation Slumberland ...though these pieces could have easily fit snug on those too. As this is very calm, droning ambient music, there's little for me to actually detail, but hey, if I've gone this far with all those Lucette Bourdin albums, I'm sure there's something here too.

Sonaoran Silence features deep pads before gently morphing into flowing harmonies. Be Here Now goes more tranquil with gentle, spritely synths and babbling brooks. Bioelectric Traces brings a sense of angelic astral planing into focus. Transient Molecules and Patterns Of Fragility are more minimalist compared to the rest, while Ting-Sha, with its sparse bell tones and sustained drone, is mysterious and, dare I say, ominous. Oh dear, there had to be that one track bringing to mind night terrors, didn't there.

Stormloop - Snowbound*

Glacial Movements Records: 2011

Yet another artist I've long meant to return to, and simply neglected for... gosh, half a decade now? There's a silly reason for this, in that when I picked up his Into The Void album, I thought I was diving into an artist with an impeccable work rate, his prior decade seeing the release of some twenty LPs worth of music. Now appearing on ..txt, it looked as though Stormloop was ready to launch his career ever higher. And there would be I, having his Bandcamp page bookmarked, getting all those early alerts that another session of lush ambient tones was about to drop. Only... it didn't.

Not that Kev Spence went totally dark after Into The Void, still releasing the odd item here and there. Just compared to his output prior, it's quite the drop-off. I'm sure there's any number of reasons for this – real world events conflicting, goals mostly accomplished, etc. - but yeah, when an artist slips from your recollection, so too does returning to their discography for another dive.

Fortunately, I was reminded of him when I started my splurge on Glacial Movements Records. Come to think of it, Stormloop was technically my introduction to the label, name-dropping them in my review of Into The Void. Didn't really make a connection then, and wouldn't for another couple years, until covering Skare's Grader. Funny how that works out. Anyhow, Glacial Movements offers bulk CD buys, so when I finally took the plunge, I was quite happy to see Stormloop's Snowbound* still among the options. Physical medium is already plenty rare in Kev's catalogue, and the fact such an old item (over a decade now!) was there for the taking, well, how can you beat that?

Just in case you weren't clear about the sort of album you're in for, the titular opener very gradually eases you into a wintry clime'. It almost feels like you're awakening from some long, restless slumber, unsure of your surroundings, biting cold piercing your flesh as you huddle yourself, gathering your bearings. The synth drone is ominous, yet somehow awe inspiring too, as though you know full well you're in an inhospitable realm that contains its own unique beauty. All the while, a steady electronic pulse carries you along, the sort of minimalist tone that will instantly get your Biosphere triggers flaring.

The desolate dark drone doesn't let up for the rest of the album. Tracks with titles like Cold Winds, A Blizzard, Dense Fog, and Losing Sleep should tell you the sort of album you're in for. We even seem to get space bound by the end, even though the foreboding tone doesn't offer much respite. There are moments of reflective tranquility (Space Station J), but once again, Glacial Movements has drawn some of the most isolationist ambient out of its contributing artists. Now excuse me while I wrap myself in more blankets. It cold here in Vancouver!

Lucette Bourdin - Silver Moon

Earth Mantra/Fantasy Enhancing: 2009/2021

Twenty CDs may seem like a thorough amount of albums for a retrospective box-set, but truth be told, this only touches upon one aspect of Lucette's discography. Well, maybe one and a half, if you include all the early, self-released stuff too. But yes, this collection of Ms. Bourdin's music primarily focuses on her output on Dark Duck Records, when she in fact had two labels supporting her, the other being Earth Mantra.

I'm not sure why those albums weren't included with this box-set – some sort of licensing hurdle, perhaps? Or could they just not be *gasp* as good as her other material, thus getting cut to keep this box-set a simple twenty CDs long? Guess I could find out for myself by checking out those Earth Mantra albums (I like the artwork of Golden Sun!) but, eh, I've taken in so much of Lucette's ambient (just... so very much), I will need a little break n' buffer after I've finished off this current collection.

Anyhow, I bring all this up because, according to Lord Discogs, Silver Moon is the lone Earth Mantra release to find its way into Retrospective Box Set (2005 – 2017). Again, I'm not sure why this is so. Fair point that some of those Earth Mantra albums were collaborations with Darrell Burgan, but others like Rumors From Cypress Town or Radiant Stars or Seeking Ganesha or Timeless Shore or Horse Heaven... were these not worthy? Ergh, I'm probably focusing way to much on something that's likely just a coincidence of circumstance. Let's get back to Silver Moon, one of my favourite Kitaro pieces- erm, I mean, the album I'm supposed to be reviewing. (seriously though, Kitaro's Silver Moon is such a lovely outing of haunting New Age ambience)

Almost immediately, I'm struck with a slightly different vibe than I'm used to from Lucette's typical brand of gentle, flowing ambient drone. For sure the synth pads still glide and weave along, but there's more of a mysterious feel to Now The Moon, less prominence on harmonic layers of timbre. Gosh, there's even choir pads, emerging from the winds of an approaching night. If that wasn't enough to send a bit of a chill down the spine, some pieces towards the end, like From The Shadowy Cote, With Silver Claws, Moveless Fish, and In A Silver Stream, edge remarkably close to the domains of dark ambient. Even a piece like Walks In Night, while more grand than most of this album, has an omnipresent ominous atmosphere about it.

For sure there's a few tracks that touch upon Ms. Bourdin's more New Age approach to ambient drone. She Peers And Sees features harmonic strokes while gentle woodblocks plonk in rhythmic fashion, while Silver Trees does that lovely ebb and flow drone some of her best works entailed. Guess I just wasn't quite prepared to hear an album of 'Lucette Goes Goth', but then every ambient artist likes getting in touch with their darkside at some point.

Speedy J - A Shocking Hobby

NovaMute: 2000/2021

The final Speedy J album I've yet to review, and possibly the most significant one for Mr. Paap in terms of where his career was going. Loudboxer put a permanent stamp on his turn towards techno bangers, but the notion of releasing a singular, uncompromising audio assault for a full LP starts with A Shocking Hobby. Prior albums typically offered a variety of tempo, tunes, and tones, and while the same can be said for most of this one too, there's no denying this record is best enjoyed – and perhaps properly only enjoyed – as a single sit-down experience. From front to back, A Shocking Hobby hardly deviates from its future-shock, broken-beat aggro-techno vibe.

You might sense familiar territory with opener Terre Zippy, starting an album similarly to Public Energy No. 1. Yet whereas Tuning In instilled a bit of uneasy calm before Jochem unleashed Patterns on you, Terre Zippy is all abrasive industrial drone, increasing the tension to fever pitch before unleashing an even nastier piece of big beat business in Borax. I wouldn't go so far as to call this track drill n' bass though, as there's a certain level of measured structure going on here compared to the frenetic pace the IDM camps generally enjoy. As for melody, forget it. Whereas Patterns had those big, rousing orchestral strings at its climax, Borax settles for some layered strings at its peak, finding whatever seams of boshing beats they can squeeze through.

And while you can tell when there's a shift into another track on A Shocking Hobby, everything's so aurally consistent that it almost sounds like a live session getting rinsed out rather than individual tracks. Interstitial piece Ferber Mudd may as well be a brief continuation of ideas already explored in Borax, while Balk Acid carries on with the booming, distorted rhythms just the same, with it's own nice little melody in support that will get all your Aphex Twin comparisons triggering.

Even more than the last album, those links to the IDM wonks of the '90s have been made with A Shocking Hobby, and I can't deny, the drill n' bass vibes of tracks like Vopak, Actor Nine and Drill are clear as any day. I dunno' though, this album still feels more rooted in techno's domain than IDM, using sonic experimentation as a tool for an LP narrative rather than for its own sake track to track. Even the downbeat pieces towards the end serve as a comedown coda to the audio assault that came before in this apocalyptic war of industrial breaks.

Still, though I'd consider A Shocking Hobby a far more successful outing of such sounds compared to the transitional Public Energy No. 1, it's still a noisy session from Speedy J, one I can see only a handful of folks would be down for. Plus, while critically solid, I doubt making such music was all that financially lucrative for Jochem. Now, that warehouse-ready, club friendly 4am techno, there's an untapped market...

loscil - Sea Island

Kranky: 2014

A local lad, this loscil is. Not that I realized it at the time of purchase, simply drawn to another bit of familiar cover art with a title also intimately familiar (technically grew up on a 'sea island'). Many a Pacific Northwest beach front is little more than a rubble-strewn wasteland of old cedar driftwood washed upon the shore. Ancient trees felled by strong winter winds, carried out to the ocean where they cruise along currents and tides, piling upon each other in tiny enclaves and fjords all along the coastline. Not the most inviting areas if you're looking to lounge in the sun for an afternoon, but all those dropped logs are handy in a pinch if you need to drop a log of your own.

Anyhow, Scott Morgan has been an active musician for over two decades now, at times working in bands like Destroyer, but primarily producing music as loscil, and fairly active at it too. Lord Discogs lists some thirty items to his catalogue, including works on Ghostly International and Glacial Movements Records. And while I wouldn't say his output is heavily inspired by the general grey-tone of the region's sights and weather, album titles like First Narrows, Strathcona Variations, Sketches From New Brighton, and, yes, Sea Island, will certainly get some Vancouverites' notice. To say nothing of that cover art for Endless Falls. We know that sight all too well wherever we are sat within a traffic jam.

As you may have guessed from those label name-drops, loscil primarily deals in minimalist, dubby ambient drone, with the occasional subtle techno pulse thrown in. Sometimes the music is tranquil and soothing, other times reflective and melancholy, perhaps at times amorphous and non-committal to any particular mood. Whatever you fancy, I'm sure Scott has made some iteration in the past twenty years.

Sea Island touches upon a few of these themes, a nice little soundtrack should you find yourself wandering about such a locale. The bell tones of opener Ahull brings you into the album with a bit of whimsy, even as some of the backing, throbbing synths create a sense of unease. In fact, we don't get anything quite so 'lighthearted' until Sturgeon Bank towards the album's end. In between, there's sombre pieces (Bleeding Ink, Sea Island Murders, Catalina 1943), contemplative pieces (In Threes, Holding Pattern), and gently beautiful pieces (Iona, Angle Of Loll), all performed within a warm layer of foggy dub drone.

Admittedly, the heavy use of said dub tones does give Sea Island a bit of a samey vibe throughout, so it's nice that En Masse towards the end focuses more on piano over the drone. Not that each track doesn't feature a unique sound, it's just everything tends to blend together over the course of a playthrough. That's just the loscil style though, and if you're down for that, you'll be down for Sea Island. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for my three-hour walk in overcast skies.

James Murray & Francis M. Gri - Remote Redux

Ultimae Records: 2019

Yay, James Murray is back! Or, was back, this album having come out a few years ago now. And then, that's only in relation to Ultimae, Mr. Murray remaining a busy-body between his few appearances on the French label. He's got his own label, Slowcraft Records, to release things on, and a second home with Home Normal, a print housing names like Celer, bvdub, Chihei Hatakeyama, and Wil Bolton. It does give an impression that James didn't need to return to Ultimae, but considering his Eyes To The Height was a highlight of the label's past decade, it's nice seeing him return.

Only, I'm not sure how much of Mr. Murray's music is to be found on this particular release, Remote Redux coming off more like a Francis M. Gri joint. Mr. Gri is another in an endless amount of abstract acoustic ambient producers, often employing pianos and guitars while treating them to delay, detuning, and dubbing effects. He, too, has his own label, KrysaliSound, where he self-releases things while housing other names like øjeRum, Tropic Of Coldness, Hirotaka Shirotsubaki, and Wil Bolton. Oh, and James Murray's released an album there, which is how I assume the two crossed paths. Or maybe it was when Gri released an album on Murray's Slowcraft Records. Either or, whichever satisfies your head-canon.

Ma opens things up with a gentle build of discordant strings, subtle pads, and piano touches with delayed tones reaching far into the deepest canyons. The mood gradually escalates as the layers of timbre pile upon each other, before long the piece doing that wall-of-sound thing you might hear on the more drone orientated ambient labels out there. Though with the twitchy strings and minimalist piano, Ma feels more comfortable in a modern classical lane than traditional ambient.

Toma carries forward with similar production, though with acoustic guitar rather than piano the main melodic rudder. For as much melody as there is anyway, this piece more about the harmonic drones washing over your sense of being. Remote uses more reverse delay effects upon strings and pads, all the while maintaining some sense of forward momentum as the tones ebb and flow. These are techniques I've heard Francis use, but not so much James. In fact, aside from some pad support and electronic sprinklings, I haven't heard much out of James, leaving me wondering if he's in more of a support role to Francis. Like, James playing Eno to Francis' Budd.

Speaking of, Lotano is an utterly blissed out piece of dubbed-out modern classical (d'at analogue fuzz!), while Redux brings back the wall-of-sound washes. That's also the end of the album (plus an extended version of Toma), and with only one track out of five breaching ten minutes, relatively short all things considered. It's also unlike any Ultimae record I can recall hearing, the label seldom going this ambient, much less modern classical. Remote Redux would make perfect sense on, say, Dronarivm, but on Ultimae, it's definitely an unique item.

Shuta Yasukochi & Carlos Ferreira - Quiet Reminders

Archives: 2020

A simple little release, this. Two tracks, both about fourteen and a half minutes long, and two remixes, averaging nine minutes between them. I suppose that barely constitutes this being an album proper, reaching over forty minutes in total. Still feels rather skint though, like there could have been more ideas explored over the course of its run time. So it goes with ambient, I guess.

The artists behind this album are Shuta Yasukochi, Japanese, and Carlos Ferreira, Brazilian. This is not as odd a combination of ethnicity as you'd think, Brazil having the second largest population of Japanese heritage in the world. Some hundred years ago, there was a large influx of immigration there, mostly to work coffee plantations and other agricultural enterprises. A big reason for this was the United States massively reducing the amount of Japanese immigrants within their borders, and with Japan still trying to find its way out of its post-feudal era, many went to Brazil for a better chance at life. I guess it worked out well enough, seeing as how a few million souls remains there to this day. Whether this has anything to do with Carlos and Shuta meeting each other to collaborate, I haven't a clue, but hey, always fun to divert this music blog into a history blog, right?

Both had been active making music since at least the mid-'10s, growing decent Soundcloud profiles in that time. Shuta even got his first album out on Archives half a decade ago, while Carlos was working with other artists, including some psychedelic rock thing called Ansiedaed, including a song called Drabula. It's not indicative of what he's making with Shuta.

Still, he does put his guitar skills to some use with first track Floating, even if it's just the gentlest of electric strumming. Not even strumming really, more like soft plucking, with a little effects pedal providing subtle delay. Meanwhile, Shuta provides the soft, droning synth pads, the higher layers of timbre imparting a feeling of, well, floating, like wispy clouds caressing alpine peaks. Yes, thank you, Archives, for once again giving an album the most perfect piece of cover art. Naturally, it's a piece that's not in any hurry to move along, but the lighter synths do grow steadily more pronounced as it plays out.

By contrast, An Endless Dream goes atonal, very little about it as harmonious as Floating. The drones are quite subdued, there's a layer of quiet, dubby field recordings churning in the background, and the sparsest of idiophonic instruments offer what little melody Shuta and Carlos are willing to give. I kinda' zone out on this one.

The two remixes come care of Hilyard and Archives-head Agustín, under his Warmth guise (of course). Hilyard turns Floating into more of a standard shoegazey ambient outing, but holy...! Warmth goes about as close to dark ambient drone as I think I've ever heard from this label. Now I want to check out that Darkest Place album from him.

Natural Life Essence - Organic Adventures

Neotantra: 2020

Ah, finally, an ambient artist debuting on Neotantra that isn't hopelessly obscure. Well, okay, Natural Life Essence probably is hopelessly obscure to a lot of folks out there, maybe even among ambient fans, but unlike some of the others I've covered from this label, he has a rather robust discography under his belt. One Juan Pablo Giacovino, the Argentinian local has been releasing music for close to a decade now, initially getting his start on German based CYAN, sharing digital domain with the likes of New Age Hippies, Musik Magier, The Mixing Chef, Fortadelis, Jaja (3), and Smooth (8). Perhaps more noteworthy is a short stint with psy label Ovnimoon Records, a lone EP and remix album to his name there.

That's just what Lord Discogs tells me he's done though. Follow a link to his Bandcamp page, however, and holy cow! Chap's been a busy lad, to say the least. To be fair, his Liquid Frog Records print isn't just all him, sharing projects with names like Kiphi, Yahgan, and Spiritual Fields. Still, there's a lot to check out there, all of it looking mighty tempting for a splurge. Space ambient, polar ambient, naturalistic ambient, meditative ambient, abstract ambient, long form ambient... just, so much ambient. What would I even begin to choose from this selection? What, buy the whole catalogue? Don't be daft, the whole thing is eighty-six items! It'd be ludicrous of me to just blind-buy that large of a Bandcamp page and I've already gone and done it, haven't I? *sigh* Well, I guess I needed something to keep generating content for this blog next year.

Anyhow, back to Juan's debut on Neotantra, Organic Adventures. Far as I can tell, three of the self-titled tracks come from an earlier release of N:L:E's, Organic Adventures (Those Other Lands). Which isn't all that uncommon when it comes to Neotantra releases, often serving as much a re-issue print for releases long forgotten or ultra-obscure. 1, 3 and 4 (Part II) are all quite lovely in that slightly psy-chill sort of way, never getting over-indulgent with effects and gimmickry, keeping things just melodic enough to hook you in while tones and drones drift along. Organic Adventures 8, which far as I can tell is an original for this release, is a slightly different outing, gentle washes of white noise dub effects and spoken dialog lending more of a spaced-out vibe.

And speaking of fresh music for a label debut, the first two tracks also appear new, and honestly kinda' clash with the original Organic Adventures sessions. Opener Polinizaton runs a lengthy twenty-one minutes, and is more of a shoegazey dronescape with field recordings of chirping birds. It's quite nice too, very relaxing, kinda' reminiscent of a Slaapwel Records session, and- oh, God! Why did those gentle pads suddenly cut out like that? Talk about sonic whiplash. Liberation (Flying Free) follows in similar fashion, though more emphasis on building upon an uplifting synth pad melody. No sudden cut-off? Now that's an Ace Track!

Lucette Bourdin - Oceanic Space

Dark Duck Recordings/Fantasy Enhancing: 2006/2021

We're not quite done with Ms. Bourdin just yet. I mean, obviously not, since I'm only half-way through a twenty CD box-set, but in this recent clutch of reviews, she's taken up quite the bundle of them, the sixth out of the last ten. Fret not, folks, for this will be it for a while now, at least until we hit the 'R's ...I think. To be honest, I keep forgetting just how many there are. Seems every time I figure there's a gap, *boop*, suddenly, another Lucette album.

That certainly happened here, Oceanic Space. To be fair, it is something of a 'blink and you'll miss it' outing. There's only three tracks, making it Ms. Bourdin's shortest album in that regard. However, they're lo-o-ong tracks, Space taking up over twenty-five minutes of your time, and Ocean a whopping twenty-eight and a half minutes. Opener The Beginning, by comparison, runs a 'brisk' nine minutes, and believe me, does it breeze on by. How weird that our sense of passing time can do that, eh?

But hey, just because some ambient music pushes the half-hour mark doesn't mean nothing happens. Plenty of sonic twists and turns can occur in such an excursion, right? Sure, if that's the sort of ambient you're composing for said piece. As should be abundantly clear by now though, Lucette generally engages with the more meditative, droning sort of ambient. And while I've heard her take some interesting paths in such lengthy compositions, those have mostly come from later albums, wherein she's had time to hone her musical craft. According to the order of which these CDs come in her retrospective box-set, Oceanic Space is her second LP, and, well, you can kinda' hear it too.

The Beginning is a nice enough opener, spacey synths gliding along sine waves in such a manner that treads the line between classic ambient and New Age music. There definitely is a bit of the ol' Fax+ vibe to this one, so maybe that association germinated with fans of Namlook's label started much earlier than I suspected. And again, I'm surprised that, despite its nine-minute run-time, it seemingly plays out in quick fashion. Maybe my brain just wanted it to go on for longer. The fade-out certainly hints at something more on the horizon, subtly tugged away just as you're getting warmed to it.

Space gently sets off with tranquil pad work, gradually layering more tones as the piece progresses. Once the elements are all in play, however, it doesn't really go anywhere, Lucette content in letting things play out as her muse sees fit. Again-again, this would be fine for a shorter piece – say, a dozen minutes or so – but at nearly half an hour, tends to slip into background noodling for its own sake. Same goes for Ocean, an even subtler piece in its use in harmonic tones. It's fine for ambient of this nature, but doesn't do much to stand out from an overcrowded field either.

Lucette Bourdin - Nordic Waves Vol. 4: Autumn

Dark Duck Records/Fantasy Enhancing: 2012/2021

Seriously now, is there any season more pointless to The North than autumn? Yeah, I get that not all of the Nordic regions are True North, the good ol' Atlantic Gulf Stream providing temperate climates to latitudes not typically suited for it. But indulge me here a moment (as if you're not already doing so by reading my thoughts about music on a blog): what do you typically think of when it comes to fall?

The cooling temperatures, the changing colour of leaves, the shedding of said leaves, the harvesting of fruits and vegetables before the big freeze, and all that, right? None of which is applicable to tundra, and barely so even in taiga! Like, that temperature change is pretty abrupt, going from summer to winter almost in an instant. And those mosses and lichens sure ain't gonna' do anything fancy in the back end of the calendar year, no sir, much less in need of harvesting. Migratory animals are about the only thing I can think of associating autumn with The North.

Not that Lucette was unable to conjure up some music feeding off traditional imagery of fall in temperate clime's. I just think it would have made for an interesting, and even hilarious, bit of thematic consistency to make Nordic Waves Vol. 4: Autumn basically an EP. Y'know, a short excursion for a season that doesn't have much impact in the region as we know it. Heck, maybe even do the same for Vol. 2: Spring. And while we're at it, make Vol. 1: Winter a double-LP! Vol. 2: Summer can stay a standard album length though. We don't need anymore non-setting sunlight than we already have around the Arctic Circle.

Actually, I need to backtrack that a bit. After listening through Nordic Waves Vol. 4: Autumn, I'm not so sure Lucette was able to find much inspiration from the Phantom Season. Yeah, there's titles like Caramel-Colored Trees, The Smell Of Fallen Leaves, and First Frost, but I don't get the same sense of sonic imagery with the music on hand as with the previous volumes. Don't get me wrong, this is still a very lovely collection of moody, atmospheric ambient drone, but I feel like these pieces could have almost anything associated with them and sound just as fine. Heck, maybe even go the extra, classic-ambient step of pure abstraction, no need for a season's themes.

Take Shower Of Stars, a piece of shimmering synths and gliding pads. Beautiful, yes. Invoking autumn, not really. Or Pale Sun, as moody an ambient composition as we've yet heard in this series, but again, no feelings of fall coming to mind with it.

It's a funny one, this final entrant in Ms. Bourdin's Nordic Waves series. Musically, I actually kinda' like it the most, even if it almost have nothing to do with the season it's supposed to be inspired by. Maybe it needed to go spookier, tap into that Halloween vibe. Can't think about autumn without that day.