I’ve often written about how the Ambient genre seem to be huge in the US, based on the amount of great releases from that country. But this time I’ll focus on my own continent, Europe. There’s really no reason to go further to find excellent ambient gemstones. As illustrated by these great recent finds.
ILUITEQ + Lorenzo Montanà (Italy) – Noesi
The textures in this track just instantly pulled me in. There’s drama here, no doubt, but still calm before the storm.
But for how long? I do not know, but luckily at least the duration of this track, at a modest 5:18 minutes.
Vera Bohl (Germany) – A Liberdade
And now for something completely different. A piano based track. Not something I usually pick for this column, but I just had to make an exception here. It’s such a gentle track, melodic obviously, but still holds an abstract, airy atmosphere that I just so totally vibed with. I mean, even us dark ambient fans can appreciate a break from the doom and gloom, right?
And for those moments, I really don’t think there can be much better alternatives than this one.
Infralyd (Denmark) – Recharge
Slowly evolving pads are one of the definite hallmarks of our genre.
Chances are good that it’s precisely these kinds of tracks that pulled you into this kind of music to begin with, and here’s a good example of why that is: Melodic enough for “outsiders” to find something to relate to, and washed out enough to be an eye-opener on these kinds of arrangements.
And that’s what this track excels at being.
Klangbotten (Sweden) – Aero Magnolia
Let’s have one more of that kind, shall we? A quiet, deep atmosphere from the Swedish highlands. Or at least – that’s the scenarios that pops up in my mind.
And I’ll be honest, the scenarios I usually seek are the darker, more futuristic, maybe a bit more mysterious vibes. I mean, this track here is nothing of that – it’s just plain hypnotic. Pure bliss, a baby in her mothers womb, a leaf unfolding in the spring, a dog sleeping at his masters feet. This is just plain cream to our souls.
And I love it.
The piano instrumental was placed on our piano themed playlist, the other three are added to our ambient list “Ambient Universe”, who features only the finest drone based ambient tracks as we disover them. Maintained for years, this is one trustworthy source of new ambient discoveries.