Lazy Days
Three great new albums that span the ambient spectrum and which will sound perfect on a lazy Sunday.
I’ve just jumped on the 6.42am train to Porto, where I’ll change to the Lisbon intercity and get off at Entroncamento to head to Tomar and pick up the girls. It’s a tour of Portugal without the wine and fish, but at least I get to publish today’s tips in a more timely fashion and I can’t wait to see what new moves and sounds my daughter has picked up in the last week.
Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice - Phantasy & Reality (Moon Glyph)
Avery and Pulice have been collaborating for a few years now - mostly via Moon Glyph, either under their own names, or on more clandestine projects with Mitch Stahlmann - the similar sounding LCM project or the deep space explorations of Signal Quest, both very much worth your time. If you need an umbrella term, and I tend to find them helpful, then cosmic minded ambient jazz should do nicely.
The new LP sees them stripping things down to bare bones and wonderful effect, but fear not this new skeletal approach has serious substance - every key press, sax utterance, synth pad, effected vocal refrain, oddball sound source or percussive shake counts twice, accentuated by the consummate spatial framing.
Don’t be deceived by the cover which looks a bit cheesy 80s soft pop. Although there are stray elements of border line queijo amongst the astral probing: some soft synth sounds, well meaning piano lines & sentimental sax, they’re unfailingly accompanied by otherworldly sonic detailing that make their familiarity fantastical.
Mostly they go deep though, this is no time for remembering the one that got away. Pulice’s sax is constantly wondering, meditating, communing, searching and yes lamenting, though certainly nothing trite - that’s been done too often and this is not your usual fare. Fortunately he’s not alone . Avery’s (I presume) percussive shakes and rattles put a comforting or supportive arm around him at just the right moments - just before the ache turns to hurt or the wondering becomes permanent detachment, her ambient beams, perfectly placed field recordings and occasional hypnotic pulses always light the path back home.
It’s a wonderful start to finish listen and one I shall be growing old with. Start your day right.
mastroKristo - Passage (Lost Tribe)
I don’t believe I’ve mentioned Lost Tribe Sound yet in the newsletter, so I’d like to introduce another one of my favourite labels for you to explore. Those with darker listening tendencies in particular will feel right at home, although don’t sweat it if not, there are plenty of slightly less shadowy albums as well, which is where I tend to lurk - life is dark enough as it is.
MastroKristo is a “naive multimedia artist, woodworker, tea & herb shop owner and recently a father”, no wonder he only releases an LP every few years. He’s also a new artist discovery, I’m not quite sure how I overlooked his previous release for the label, although I’ve now bookmarked it after just a cursory listen this morning.
He’s also quite the composer, adopting a rich, layered approach to his genre ambiguous thoughts on life’s grey areas, which the populists have conveniently swept under the rug with their black or white approach. Unsurprisingly he’s enlisted the trio who did such a good job on Departures. Sadly they don’t seem to be name checked although I feel I should, but I presume they’re handling tuba, strings and bassoon, whilst mastroKristo concentrates on the keys and tape manipulation.
Perhaps due to time stress and to make this recording more substantial, he’s also enlisted four like minded artists to rework a track each from his debut LP which he’s seamlessly woven into the new album. They’re also something of a Lost Tribe/TSMM dream team - Claire Deak, Aaron Martin, Federico Mosconi and The Phonometrician no less - if you're having a lazy day and are fed up of social scrolling then hit play on these four. Unsurprisingly they’ve more than delivered, respecting the original vibes but not too shy to have their say. If you overlooked the track listing or credits then you’d never know they were there.
So what of the album? Rather like our world it’s a bitter sweet place. It’s a borderless melting pot where tape degradation scuffs the grand cinematic constructs as strings and wind instruments gesture at humanity’s achievements whilst shedding a tear at our greed. Melodic light celebrate humdrum family or single life and those undocumented moments of laughter and kindness. It’s tender, epic, warm and dispassionate. It’s folk, classical, ambient and cinematic. It’s affecting.
Katharina Schmidt - If & When (Elm Records)
Brian Eno’s statement that ambient “must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” is rather outdated and perhaps today he’d revise that statement? Saying that today’s third pick from Katharine Schmidt probably fits the bill, despite the fact she has more experimental inclinations.
The release consists of two long form tracks of just under twenty minutes each which immediately makes them less confrontational, there being no post track silences or changes of song tone to give you a nudge.
Each side is based around a single drone and apart from the odd, hardly noticeable throb or quiver are a perfect backdrop for a relaxing listen. Wisely she adds some field recorded warmth to proceedings, whether it’s those old ambient favourites - bird song or flowing water, alongside hints of her personal activity, distant urban hums and even the odd police siren as they race to deal with who knows what? They certainly open the door on the listening experience, perhaps subconsciously encouraging even the most occupied of listener to leave the house at some point of the day.
If you need a soundtrack whilst reading the Sunday papers or writing your memoirs then this is probably the one.
glad I found you :)
I have much gratitude for you posts, so glad I found you. Thank you for sharing ambience