Sunday! What a perfect day of the week to do a new exploration in the wonderful world of ambient music. Here’s three new releases!
Iu Takahashi (Japan) – Gallery window
We’ve featured Japanese artists several times earlier in this column, but this is the first female artist from the land of the rising sun.
And what she delivers is a delicate arrangement. A quite minimalistic expression, gorgeous harmonies in a glossy, glassy atmosphere. But it’s what goes on in the background that – as so often is the case – fetches my attenion and ignites my curiosity. A field recording of something that could be anything really.
And that’s perfect – no boundaries for our imagination. It makes one thing for certain:
Everyone that hear this will have their very unique mental images to go with it.
Phondupe (Australia) – AC1
We’re heading towards much darker ground with this next one, from Australia. And the most ardent reader will know that we want to create a rather abstract, futuristic vibe on our playlist Ambient Universe. Space exploration. So no earthly sounds like water, birds, wind etc.
But I had to make an exception with this one. The darkness seduced me. The secluded cave, the tomb buried deep underneath the floor of an exotic jungle.
Eight minutes of pure dark atmosphere.
Yaroslav Molochnyk (Ukraine) – Intro
And while I’m on the subject of exceptions, let’s make another one. Piano. A fantastic instrument, lovely in melodic ambient, but a bit too “earthly” sounding for my aforementioned reasons.
Here, though. Here I find the piano to be used perfectly in an ambient setting. Not too leading, not too melodic, but more to create a texture of a quite experimental nature. And I love that. Ambient should be about being taken to strange new worlds, new civilizations.
And I feel that here.
All three are added to our excellent Spotify playlist, “Ambient Universe“, where only the finest new ambient music is added. This list has been weekly updated for years now, and should have proven itself to be a reliable source for new ambient discoveries.