Elin Piel - Vaka (Northern Electronics)

Sometimes less is more

A few brief thoughts…

A couple of newsletters ago I mentioned that due to work and new born parenting pressure I’d probably resort more to pithy paragraphs - like my blog tips of old, to briefly introduce and hopefully lure you into hitting play rather than provide more informative reviews, reminiscences & digressions, just so I can keep the music tips flowing more regularly. The time pressure is real and the music release deluge waits for no one.

Today is one of those days, especially since I reread the previous bleary eyed missive with sleep refreshed eyes and spotted all the typos. I really need to be getting these newsletters out before the sun sets and I’m not the quickest writer - hopefully you’re a grammatically forgiving bunch. The Slow Music Movement has always been more about my new finds and need to share them, rather than erudite music criticism. Hopefully after a few tips I’ll gain your trust.

Speaking of which, Elin Piel started releasing music four year ago, and if her Instagram is anything to go by spends most of her time plugging cables into various modular synthesizers, something I fully support when the results sound this great.

Piel says that, "most of these tracks were recorded during my travels, in nature or at hospital waiting rooms in between February and October 2023”. Certainly there is a sense of limbo pervading the glimmering minimal tones and foggy, tension absorbing atmospherics; perhaps reflecting waiting room or long journey tediousness; that weird feeling during the first days of an overdue holiday as you’re unwinding yet still feel that you should be doing something; or those first delightful, disorienting moments when you’ve just escaped city life, open the car door and start tuning into the uninterrupted sounds of nature and its ecosystemic harmony?

Whatever your take this fine LP certainly eased me into another sleep challenged working week, and I’ll be tuning in later when some late night contemplation is the order of the day.

Playlist Action:

Head over to the Slowtronic Playlist for more gently rhythmic, tempo challenged electronica or the Slow Ambient Playlist for a flat out on the sofa soundtrack.