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this time it begins
with a thin pale whisp of neon green
like oxidized copper
a meteor’s earthward fall

and a head full of forgotten symphonies
whose waking melodies slip silently away
to settle down as shivering traces
beneath the timberglades

it’s for everything that sits still in the cold
to lay weathered and broken
to be ground into the earth
like shattered urns

for it the mountains make their quiet offerings
a thawing brook
soft green leaves unfolding in the spring’s first sun
a violet dusk
an untouched lake
the silent air that holds up the moon

and it ends when I am long gone
when all the hymns have been sung
and the weary stones my feet once touched
have held all the light
that there will ever be

IV

Each of these projects has a little piece of my soul in it, but this one especially does. It took a long time to create and finalize, and the bulk of it was recorded while I’ve been living away from the mountains for the past few years. A lot of the sound is influenced by that distance and longing, as well as the longer composition time. I experimented with different elements, especially choral pieces, and continued the same approach as the azure sun suite where I targeted the continuous mix. Instead of being a single continuous piece, I broke into two. The second half of the album came first, and “timberglades” is a personal favorite and a highlight of the album. The core melody and drone were made with my classic warm saw pad, and I used brass samples in my granular resampling pipeline. The brass samples were a new type of material to work with, and the result has an incredible richness and timbre. I wanted to respond to it with some more experimental percussive elements, and “heralds” came out of that. For a while I envisioned it living in the middle of the album as the bridge between the two halves. However, “reanimation” and “resin” came next, and I fell in love with their sound and how they melded into each other. In the end I could never place “heralds” in the continuous composition, but the entire first half of the album essentially grew as a response to “timberglades”. Similar to “the azure sun suite”, the continuous mix is a very rich and engaging listen while the individual tracks are a little more open and meditative. There are some elements that are only exposed in the individual tracks when they can be heard on their own.

I’m also very pleased to release supporting visuals in the form of an infinite video loop created by Evan Dalen of Luminary Art and Design. I sent Evan the artwork variants I had generated and he used them to create an incredibly detailed loop zooming into the album cover. It’s very meditative to watch the layers unfold, and it’s a perfect companion to the album. I hope to be able to release more visual content like this in the future.

The process for this album was a very deep but enjoyable one, and I’d like to thank everyone who reached out with their support. It means the world to hear from each and every one of you from all over the globe. I’m happy to say that I’ve moved back to the mountains, and will be gathering some more material for future albums.

– JC (.foundation)

w&p by Jake Carter
art & design by Jake Carter
CD design & layout by Andrew J Klimek
video loop by Evan Dalen of Luminary Art & Design (https://luminaryartanddesign.carbonmade.com/)
additional video editing by John Carter

when andrew and i started the conversation about a reissue of the ‘idyll’ cd, we didn’t plan on turning this into a full other album. however, it quickly became apparent that we were building something special with the additions so we kept going, and i am delighted we did.

each person i invited to do a remix has been a big part of my musical path, helping me believe in myself, encouraging me to share my art with the world, & inspiring me with their own art. deep gratitude to lacey, angela, phoebe, ludvig, james and andrew for pouring your hearts into this little project. <3 also, huge thanks to nevia pavletic for her stunning artwork!

the added alt version of ‘roses all alone’ is a little window into how my original sessions sounded before i stripped back some of the veil (which was especially noticeable on this track). and the b-side ‘make amends’ almost made it on the original album, and has been waiting for the right moment to be shared..2-years since idyll was originally released :)

thank you for listening, i hope you enjoy this collection of songs and it helps you find your own peaceful place.

warmly,
cynthia

music & production by cynthia bernard
artwork by nevia pavletic (www.neviapavletic.com)
mastered by andrew j klimek
1-9 originally released in 2021
10 is an early version of ‘roses all alone’
11 is an outtake from the original sessions
12-17 are remixed & performed by
(12) angela klimek, (13) ludvig cimbrelius, (14), phoebe dubar,
(15) andrew j klimek, (16) james bernard, (17) lacey harris

“A wake in shadows” is a funerary dirge for the lost and an implement of catharsis for the here and now. A warm embrace for cold nights when loneliness scrapes at the frozen windowpanes and shadows of ourselves dance on the periphery of the firelight. In the darkness of a hushed forest and a quiet mind, the leaves fall from whispering trees, their limbs shed bare in the frigid moonlight. In the spring the roots will feed on the past and sing bittersweet life into the canopy with a long sigh of ephemeral recompense.

This album isn’t meant to keep a listener sad or dwelling in trauma. But it can be difficult to relate to bright and joyful music when navigating a dark place. It’s my hope that ‘a wake in shadows’ will be a safe and pensive companion while dealing with grief or other heaviness or just a soundtrack at your hearthside.

Asleep in amber, a wake in shadows, reposed on the sorrow of firn…

Distant | Spirals previously released as single

Windows originally from Asleep in Amber

Pillars originally from Mercy Within

Mastered by Andrew J Klimek

Music & Artwork by Hilyard

Northwest & Southeast is a collaboration between Naarm/Melbourne-based IKSRE (Phoebe Dubar) and Seattle-based Party Store (Josh Machniak), two ambient musician/producers, who discovered each other’s music during the early days of the pandemic, and then began collaborating.

Spanning March 2021 to June 2022, the songs languidly traverse across the spectrum of each other’s aesthetic palette; evoking somewhat familiar territory yet somehow suggesting something more. The simple approach of Machniak’s often subtly atonal, melancholic guitar lines parallels the lilting string arrangements and soaring voice of Dubar seamlessly. Often landing near a meditative and calming focal point, these building and unifying textures lend to the listener a feeling of harmony and calm, amidst a challenging and relentlessly chaotic world.

IKSRE

Phoebe Dubar of IKSRE

IKSRE (I Keep Seeing Rainbows Everywhere) is the solo moniker of Naarm/Melbourne-based multi instrumentalist, vocalist, producer and sound alchemist (dip. Sound Healing Academy, Cornwall), Phoebe Dubar. She combines field recordings from across the vast, Australian landscape with lush strings, swirling synths and vocals with ambient drone, and binaural beats to create a unique, ambient, neo-classical pop sound.

She has released five albums to date: independently, with Hush Hush Records (Seattle) and Lo Recordings (London), achieving widespread acclaim from blogs, playlists and radio (BBC Radio 6, KEXP, RTE, triple j, double j, RRR, PBS-FM). 2022–23 sees more releases on Ambientologist (NL), Past Inside the Present (USA) and Stereoscenic (USA).

Phoebe also facilitates group sound baths using a combination of Himalayan and Alchemy crystal singing bowls, gongs, hand pan, drum, chimes, Monochord and voice, including overtone singing. She also facilitates training workshops locally and abroad, and runs a private practice from her home on Boonwurrung Country.

“Her sound palette lies at the delicate intersection of the natural world in fissure with atmospheric electronics and instruments. Much like Philip Glass or Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dubar’s way with a subtle shift into an irregular rhythm, a harmonic modulation or change in articulation, tricks the listener into a trance. IKSRE is seriously slept on – it’s time to wake up.” (The Wire Magazine)

“Her signature recipe examines the dynamics of the human mind, soul and body through the deft use of verdant strings, undulating synths, and vocals, blended with ambient droning and binaural beats. In some instances it evokes the transcendence of a sound bath and in others a delightful comedown from a long and fun night out.” (Vehlinggo)

“…a blissfully soothing entry into the world of healing by sound, flawlessly arranged and recorded.” (Igloo Mag)

Party Store

Josh Machniak of Party Store

Party Store began as a way for Detroit musician Josh Machniak to document solo output while playing in various live bands and musical projects during the early aughts. Now residing in Seattle, Josh continues to explore this world; presenting minimalist ambient soundscapes, angular drones and low fidelity experimental songwriting that is often informed by his own sense of subtle melancholy. In addition to releasing two full length albums (2020’s “s/t” followed by 2021’s “II”) he has issued numerous home-record EPs, singles and collections of 4-track demos scattered throughout the years.

Credits

Recorded and mixed in Melbourne and Seattle by Phoebe Dubar & Josh Machniak

Phoebe Dubar: Vocal, Viola, Moog, Sansula, Bowls, Shruti Box
Josh Machniak: Guitar, Keyboard, Sampler

Additional mixing on tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, & 7 by Andrew J Klimek
Mastered by Andrew J Klimek
Photography by Phoebe Dubar & Josh Machniak

Northwest & Southeast is a collaboration between Naarm/Melbourne-based IKSRE (Phoebe Dubar) and Seattle-based Party Store (Josh Machniak), two ambient musician/producers, who discovered each other’s music during the early days of the pandemic, and then began collaborating.

Spanning March 2021 to June 2022, the songs languidly traverse across the spectrum of each other’s aesthetic palette; evoking somewhat familiar territory yet somehow suggesting something more. The simple approach of Machniak’s often subtly atonal, melancholic guitar lines parallels the lilting string arrangements and soaring voice of Dubar seamlessly. Often landing near a meditative and calming focal point, these building and unifying textures lend to the listener a feeling of harmony and calm, amidst a challenging and relentlessly chaotic world.

IKSRE

Phoebe Dubar of IKSRE

IKSRE (I Keep Seeing Rainbows Everywhere) is the solo moniker of Naarm/Melbourne-based multi instrumentalist, vocalist, producer and sound alchemist (dip. Sound Healing Academy, Cornwall), Phoebe Dubar. She combines field recordings from across the vast, Australian landscape with lush strings, swirling synths and vocals with ambient drone, and binaural beats to create a unique, ambient, neo-classical pop sound.

She has released five albums to date: independently, with Hush Hush Records (Seattle) and Lo Recordings (London), achieving widespread acclaim from blogs, playlists and radio (BBC Radio 6, KEXP, RTE, triple j, double j, RRR, PBS-FM). 2022–23 sees more releases on Ambientologist (NL), Past Inside the Present (USA) and Stereoscenic (USA).

Phoebe also facilitates group sound baths using a combination of Himalayan and Alchemy crystal singing bowls, gongs, hand pan, drum, chimes, Monochord and voice, including overtone singing. She also facilitates training workshops locally and abroad, and runs a private practice from her home on Boonwurrung Country.

“Her sound palette lies at the delicate intersection of the natural world in fissure with atmospheric electronics and instruments. Much like Philip Glass or Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dubar’s way with a subtle shift into an irregular rhythm, a harmonic modulation or change in articulation, tricks the listener into a trance. IKSRE is seriously slept on – it’s time to wake up.” (The Wire Magazine)

“Her signature recipe examines the dynamics of the human mind, soul and body through the deft use of verdant strings, undulating synths, and vocals, blended with ambient droning and binaural beats. In some instances it evokes the transcendence of a sound bath and in others a delightful comedown from a long and fun night out.” (Vehlinggo)

“…a blissfully soothing entry into the world of healing by sound, flawlessly arranged and recorded.” (Igloo Mag)

Party Store

Josh Machniak of Party Store

Party Store began as a way for Detroit musician Josh Machniak to document solo output while playing in various live bands and musical projects during the early aughts. Now residing in Seattle, Josh continues to explore this world; presenting minimalist ambient soundscapes, angular drones and low fidelity experimental songwriting that is often informed by his own sense of subtle melancholy. In addition to releasing two full length albums (2020’s “s/t” followed by 2021’s “II”) he has issued numerous home-record EPs, singles and collections of 4-track demos scattered throughout the years.

Almost all of my music contains field-recorded sounds. When I first started my career, I incorporated the sounds of water and birdsong simply because I found them pleasing. But after years of doing the same thing, they even began to seem trite. However, as if obsessed, I continued to incorporate field recordings, layering them with ambient-appropriate drones, synths, and the like.

To be frank, I am completely bored with this approach. So why not stop? Why continue to pursue it? Because I believe that a calm scene, unaware that it is being recorded or written about, is always beautiful. I believe that there is a small, invisible crevice between the scene and the artist oneself, and that is where the beauty resides. Recently, I have been recording not sounds that I recognize as pleasant, but rather ordinary moments that almost no one pays attention to.

Once I have that, they lead me to the completion of the song. All I have to do is follow the instructions that the crevice gives me.

Hikikomogomo (悲喜交々) “alternate between hope and despair”
Nouryou (納涼) “enjoying the cool evenings”
Hatoba (波止場) “dock” “wharf”

All tracks are produced by Hidekazu Imashige

Cover Art by Andrew J Klimek

Evan Hirsh has been releasing music as Violet Light on soundcloud since 2016, but mainly for personal enjoyment and without any official release. over 3 years ago now I contacted Evan about making a compilation of my favorites, but it took some time to unearth the originals. Finally we’re here and I think it was worth the wait.

Evan is a geologist and spent much of the last few years in the Sonoran desert. You can pick up on this from the titles and gentle field recordings, conjuring scenes of sweeping sands at dusk. The minimal, low-volume drones capture the peaceful majesty and fading light.

Please enjoy it!

music by Evan Hirsh 2016 – 2020

compiled, mastered, artwork by Andrew J Klimek

The inspiration for “Le Vitrail” comes from my shared time with an amazing stained glass from the 15th century.
In a uncrowded and silent corner of my favorite museum, I’m always all alone with it. It’s really meditative.

This piece is so magnificent, it challenges the principles of time where the 700 years old dust becomes an intrinsic part of its beauty.
To me, the sublime aging signs of it are comparable to the sonic imperfections and the fragility of the tape medium.

Like my album Nature Morte, each piece is made of only one manipulated tape loop.
These restrictions forced me to create slow evolving soundscapes of intertwining melodies/frequencies.

music & photo by Pier-Luc Tremblay

mastered by Andrew J Klimek

This album started with “coronal loop”, which was a composition I originally wrote after playing a simulation game called Space Engine (spaceengine.org) to reflect the experience of flying into an azure-colored sun. That piece then organically evolved into several others which, over time, came together to be recomposed in matching keys to expand on that experience and explore different themes. The result is essentially two albums in one.

The main composition of the azure sun suite is a single 35-minute continuous mix, available on track 1. The piece is made of individual components that have been layered together to form the full experience. Tracks 2-7 are the separated versions of each movement, which were composed over the course of 6 months. These individual tracks make for more open and minimal listening, while the main continuous piece is a richer experience.

As always, thank you for listening.

A special thank you to Andrew J Klimek of Stereoscenic for helping with the endless details to get this piece finished and released.

– JC (.foundation)

w&p by Jake Carter
art by Natalie Garza

Velvet Rope Crowd Control is a collaboration project between Bryan Hilyard and Andrew J Klimek.

For years we had discussed post-rock and neo-classical collaborations, but this guitar-loop experiment fell into our laps first. Andrew (finally) bought some guitar pedals during lockdown in spring 2020 and recorded a few test riffs. Some time later, Bryan picked through a folder of these and started sampling & morphing them into drones. We both really dug the result and listened to them off and on for the next year. Finally in late 2021, Andrew added new layers and additional processing.

New Years Eve, we each made a beat-driven remix, hoping to release the album at the stroke of mid-night. We couldn’t quite pull if off, so the project sat a little longer. In the mean time we were lucky enough to get 2 reworks by Agus aka Warmth.

music by Bryan Hilyard & Andrew J Klimek

7 & 8 remixed by special guest Agustín Mena (Warmth & SVLBRD)
9 remixed by A
10 remixed by B

After a long hiatus, Los Angeles-based ethereal electronic music producer Inquiri (Lacey Harris) re-emerges with her first fully ambient release, created “almost out of necessity”during her eighteen months of solitude during the height of the intense events of 2020, with the goals of both fostering hope within, and spreading ease, comfort, and healing to others in the most difficult times many had ever experienced before.

Inspired by her own personal journey of learning to quiet the noise of the mind, listen, and be still during times of emotional chaos, Seven explores Harris’ interpretations of a series of major spiritual imperatives/states of being, moving through them from the most basic and visceral to the most evolved and superhuman.

Like nearly all Inquiri music, there is a distinct element of heartache mixed with hope; each song mixes elements of drone, voice, field recording, and intense layers of sound to draw in the listener to sit, together with her, leaning into the complex space of each piece and it’s corresponding idea.

music by Lacey Harris
mastered by Andrew J Klimek
artwork by Cynthia Bernard

I wrote these songs in a remote house in the woods of northern Virginia. Without access to much external stimulus, my creative practice and daily routine took on an almost ritualistic quality. With space for introspection, music became a way to reflect on memories, imagined circumstances, and a range of emotions. These songs serve as aural representations of feelings I’ve had, places I’ve been, and vignettes from my life. I hope you enjoy it.

music by John Hervey

mastered by Andrew J Klimek

Is there an overall scene or feeling you had in mind for this album?

I started writing ‘idyll’ with one intention—to create a peaceful, gentle place. I pictured California in its fleeting spring with green rolling hills, a flowing river, wildflowers peeking out of the ground, and birds chirping in the air. My hope was to make the album feel like an immersion into that intention and visual.

Is there any special meaning behind the track titles?

I always have a meaning with song names, as I feel it infuses them with a sense of belonging. I have had a huge part in naming all songs with awakened souls and collaborations I’ve done.

‘idyll’ was the first song I started on the album and became the anchor for my album concept. I love the modernist painter Agnes Pelton’s piece, ‘Idyll’ and this also influenced the naming of the song, which soon became clear would be the title of the album as well.

For ‘cloud collecting’, I wanted to make a song that captured what lying on a blanket and watching passing clouds feels like. I’ve loved doing that since I was a child and so I tried to translate the child-like wonder it gives me into song form, adding pitched-up bird sounds to make it a bit more whimsical.

‘shortest day’ and ‘shortest day (reprise)’ were written on the winter solstice and became part of my yearly self-reflection ritual. With these two songs I tried to capture nostalgia, processing memories and the beauty of nature and night walks that became a habit for James and I during the pandemic.

‘first rain’ was inspired by the first rain we had in California during the fall season. It is quite dry where we live so rain holds a mystical quality, especially when we haven’t had it for months. I quickly set up my Zoom H1n and captured rain from our bedroom window and then started working on this song the following day.

The song ‘roses all alone’ came from a line of a poem that I wrote while taking solo time in the morning to be in nature, catching myself enjoying the scent of flowers all alone. I wanted to infuse what taking solo time amidst a busy family life feels like for me—rejuvenating, centering, and a way to keep in touch with myself.

‘on this fresh morning’ contains a field recording of birds from my bedroom window at dawn. I was the only one in the house awake at the time, and I laid in bed listening to the birds in a mediative state, then wrote this song later that day. I wanted there to be one song without my voice on the album but thought it would be playful to add my voice using the Chase Bliss Mood to make it sound like electronic birds for about thirty seconds towards the end of the song.

Cynthia at Ojai
Cynthia at Ojai

‘pink moment’ was named after what the sunsets are often called in Ojai, California (close to where I live), when a pink hue takes over the sky and mountains that surround the valley. The field recordings from the song came from a favorite trail in Ojai during a particularly pink sunset.

‘you’ll find me’ is the only older song that I reworked to use on the album. I initially wrote it for James back in 2016, but it was more of an indie-folk song to start with and had more lyrics. The original lyrics were ‘make-believe if you want, but I’m not going anywhere, past the greenest hills, past your last deep sigh, you’ll find me, believing in you, believing in us.’ I had been wanting to record the song in my own way for years, and felt like the ‘greenest hills’ phrase was a sign that I needed to add it to ‘idyll’. The field recordings for that song come from San Juan Bautista, the town in Northern California where we were married, and includes bird songs from a courtyard and the sound of passing cars on a highway in the distance.

‘pink moment’ is probably my favorite track… do I hear some lyrics hidden in there?

Yes. The song was initially called ‘what breaks my heart’ and if you listen closely, you can hear me singing that phrase at parts. I had just read about the concept of what breaks your heart as a window into what really matters to you. That when our heart breaks, it inevitably cracks open in a way that can create positive change. I was reflecting on this idea the day I started the song but it naturally evolved to ‘pink moment.’

What was the timeline for this album like?

I started writing ‘idyll’ in late October and initially thought I was finished with it in early December. It was a collection of five songs at that time, and I thought I just wanted to do an EP. After sending it to Andrew, I gave it some space and realized that I wanted to revise some of the songs. Giving myself a little distance not only gave me the opportunity to reevaluate and revise the five songs, but also compose four more to turn the EP into an full album. Many of the original versions were cloaked in reverb, and I wanted to unveil them to see what was underneath (especially on ‘roses all alone’ and ‘shortest day’). I completed the album by mid-January.

Was there any thing interesting about the writing process? Anything new you were experimenting with?

There were a lot of surprises for me during the writing process, since this was the first time I had ever written, produced and mixed an album entirely on my own. The revision process of the album was like crawling out of my cocoon and accepting myself as a self-made artist. I was experimenting with vocal textures using the Chase Bliss Mood, which I tucked into the mix ever so slightly in an attempt to give the songs extra depth, while maintaining my gentle intention. I dove deeper into my pedalboard and voice experiments to make them feel as if they were a separate instrument.

Do you tend to improvise, compose, some mixture of both?

I tend to do a mixture of both but always have a few parts in songs that involve a flow state/improvised compositional technique. The beauty of sound on sound recording is that it forces you to be in the moment and a lot of the marine eyes and awakened souls sound is from that full immersion in the present.

[album cover art] marine eyes – idyll

Tell us about the cover art & design

I am a huge fan of Nevia Pavletic’s (@nevia.drawings) and always thought her art would make a lovely album cover, so I was thrilled when she agreed to be part of ‘idyll’. Nevia is an abstract artist from Croatia (now based in Maryland) who primarily uses colored paper and colored pencils. She makes art as a way to be in touch with nature, and this felt like a perfect fit as it’s a similar inspiration to how ‘idyll’ was born. I liked how my handwriting looked alongside of Nevia’s art, so Andrew and I decided that it was the final touch for the inside and back of the CD design as well.

What got you into making music? Any specific training or encouragement from someone?

My parents are the foundation of my love of music. The living room of the home I was raised in has CDs and vinyl covering a whole wall (lots of Prog rock and Beatles). I watched my parents cuddle up on the couch with liner notes of new albums that came out, listening to and reading the lyrics. I started singing at a young age, writing my first song about the rain from my front porch at the age of 11. In college I would play at San Francisco cafés from time to time. I was constantly writing songs but never did anything with them besides sharing them with a few friends from iPhone or GarageBand recordings, until I met James.

James is hands down the best training and encouragement I have ever received. He taught and continues to teach me how to produce and mix and has helped me believe in myself and trust my musical intuition. Within the first weeks of meeting each other back in 2014, he told me that I should ‘always be recording’ and that immediately changed how I view writing music and expanded my sound with us writing six songs within the first six weeks of being together.

What music have you been enjoying lately?

I am constantly seeking out new music and will frequently travel all over the map in the course of a day (ambient, indie, shoegaze, post-rock, dub, glitch, techno) depending on what I am doing. During the ‘idyll’ sessions I was listening to as many new ambient artists as I could, but always found myself coming back to From Overseas, Sea Oleena, Zoe Polanski, 36, Julianna Barwick, and Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea.

Is there an overall scene you had in mind for this album?

Yeah, definitely. Looking back on these tracks now, they were heavily inspired by a trip I took through Europe back in December 2018. I was an Eastern European history major in college, and spent so much time reading a daydreaming about traveling through Europe, but never had the chance. A lot of the imagery and feelings in this album came from snapshots of experiences I had on my trip.

Ethan at Canterbury cathedral

Any special meaning behind any of the track titles?

The titles really came from small impressions and snapshots I had during the trip. Walks through the Jewish Old Town, reading Tolstoy’s Sevastopol Sketches on a train through old forests and industrial heartlands. I wanted these tracks and the titles to impart a hazy impression of these places.

What was the timeline for this album like, and where do the bonus tracks fit in? Was there any overlap with your older project—Rest You Sleeping Giant?

Fall of 2018 was a really productive period for me musically. I had just moved to Chicago after finishing grad school where I didn’t know anyone, and my girlfriend (now fiancé) had just left to study abroad for a semester in the UK. I spent a lot of that time experimenting with tape loops and acoustic guitar.

I wasn’t really happy with how my prior RYSG release Celestial Orchestra had turned out, so I was wanting to move away from that project and start something different. All of the tracks, including the bonus ones, were recorded during this period between August and December 2018.

pedal board from the Age of Aristocracy era

Was there any thing interesting about the writing process? anything new you were experimenting with?

These tracks were much more stripped back compared to my previous work, and focused primarily on acoustic guitar and tape loops. I was really wanting to release music that emphasized the guitar rather than just have it as a layer or texture. I was really getting into traditional folk music and American Primitive guitar at this time, so I was really enamored with the idea of bridging my love of folk fingerpicked guitar with my ambient-tendencies.

It was rediscovering a love for tape machines that really sparked this creative endeavor that became Black Brunswicker. Tape can be really unpredictable – for instance, in Bohemian Paradise, there’s a few moments where the track suddenly stops. That wasn’t intentional, it was just a blank spot on the tape. Originally, I struggled with tape’s unpredictability, but have come to embrace it for what it is. I also was experimenting with recording setups, running an acoustic guitar into an electric amp into an old Tascam unit. I always struggled with recording music, so a lot this time was spent finding a setup that worked for me.

Several of these tracks were put together using multiple tape loops. Serf Song, for example, was made using multiple tape loops that I was running from Tascam and Walkmans. I must have re-used the tape loop with the melody from Serf Song in another take, which resulted in the track that became Serf’s Melody.

[album cover art] Black Brunswicker - In the Age of Aristocracy

What about the album art?

The art itself came from a postcard I found. I’ve always had an interest in collecting old postcards, especially landscape and old world scenes. When I found the postcard that I would use as album art, it just kind of clicked with me. I thought “yeah, this is what I’m imagining this music to look like”

Do you tend to improvise, compose, some mixture of both?

That’s a tough one. I’d say I’m more composition side now with the tracks that emphasize fingerpicked guitar, but I’ve always been big on improvisation. Looping has always been a big part of my writing process. It allows me to do a sort of structured improvisation, where I can experiment and find something that sticks with me and build it out. Austro-Hungarian Blues is a good example of this approach, where I landed on a progression that I really liked and added on more layers. Guitar is very much at the core of this track, but I layered in multiple guitar tracks, tape fuzz, and field recordings.

Do you feel influenced by any artists in particular? What music have you been enjoying lately?

Lately, I’ve been listening heavily to William Tyler, Jack Rose, and Rick Deitrick (as well as a lot of other artists on Tompkins Square artists). I find Rick Deitrick’s old home recordings as very inspirational as of late. It blows my mind that he was able to make such beautiful mellow pieces playing open strings in Standard tuning.

I haven’t really kept up recently with what’s been going on in the ambient scene. I’ve mostly been listening to acoustic music and stoner/doom bands. Moving to Manchester has also reignited my love of Joy Division and New Order as well.

Ethan playing guitar from the Age of Aristocracy

What got you into making music?

That’s tough to say. Over the past decade, I’ve done numerous home recordings, from black metal to noisy bowed banjo. What got me started on using acoustic guitar as my primary instrument was a video Hakobune did a number of years ago – Live at Nacoh Amulet. I loved the sound and imagery in the video, and thought it was really cool how he could make such beautiful ambient music using just an acoustic guitar.

As far as training, I took some lessons from Charles Kim at the Chicago Old Town School of Folk Music to improve my fingerpicking technique. He really opened my eyes to how you could harness open tunings and fingerpicking patterns for ambient music. He’s who got me hooked on DADEAd tuning.

Contact

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topic:

Since January 2013, we have been streaming music 24/7 on our ad-free internet radio streams.

They also have counterparts on Spotify and Apple Music, which you can shuffle and actually earn income for the artists.

The stations have standalone websites where you can listen, and are listed in most popular internet radio apps.

Ambient Sleeping Pill

The original. Tranquil & deep. No beats or cheese.
website spotify apple music

a.m. ambient

Our second station, is a daytime counterpart, just as peaceful but with a brighter sound. Great for mornings.
website spotify apple music

Ambient Modern

A combination of the other stations, plus any other ambient we happen to like.
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This is my third full-length album, entitled ‘cloudform’. This release is absolutely huge for me for a number of reasons which I will explain. A lengthy post ensues (so thank you for reading to the end if you do) as this is perhaps the release that I am most proud of so I feel it deserves full explanation.

To start: the concept of ‘cloudform’ is thus – much like how the clouds come and go revealing their true fate along the way, I feel that this sentiment is paralleled in life as we weather its storms, only discovering what will ultimately be as we go through the process of enduring its trials. It is this continual encounter with attempting to accept the uncertainties in life that is the principal theme of ‘cloudform’.

The album signifies both self-reflection and a reflection of my interaction with life. Ambient music has been a big part of my life for many years now, and I wanted to delve even further into its creation with this release. Writing ‘cloudform’ has allowed me to experience a different way of creating music and (hopefully) constructing enveloping atmospheres.

For the first time since the inception of this project, my music is being released on a label – Stereoscenic Records. Founder and owner, Andrew Klimek, has been a key figure in this release and is not only releasing it on his label but has also skilfully and beautifully mastered the tracks. I am truly thankful for all his efforts to allow ‘cloudform’ to reach its full potential and his belief in my music. I am still in disbelief that it is actually being released via Stereoscenic Records; a huge moment for me.

For a long time, I have wanted to combine poetry with music. And for this release one of my close friends, Anjali Oza, has generously lent me her creative gift by writing a beautiful and fitting poem which aptly accompanies the sentiment of ‘cloudform’. Included in the download of this album (along with the artwork) is a handwritten copy of the poem, scribed by Anjali herself in beautiful calligraphy. Here’s what she says about it:

‘…the most beautiful thing about this project lies in the way Kamal has captured the universal sentiment that life unfolds in ways we can never be sure of, and the understanding that acceptance is our only peace of mind. When I was asked to write a poem for ‘cloudform’, I felt I had to find a way to bring this vision to life, to make it relatable and real. This poem is nothing short of a celebration of life’s uncertainties, and a chance to remember that humble persistence takes us far.’

The artwork for ‘cloudform’ was created by Justine Howlett. As with all good art, little explanation is required to outline its beauty. I am so pleased with what she has produced and, once again, I have been fortunate enough to work with an artist who has constructed artwork that is completely fitting.

Not only is this release a venture deep into ambient territory, it has also come from a very deep place within. Losing myself in music is the way I know to best process all of the events in life, especially those that are most significant. And this year has been fairly significant for me, in more ways than one. For about nine months prior to June of this year, my father’s health had been rapidly declining and, following this prolonged period of suffering, he eventually passed away at home. During this period, I was continuing to write ‘cloudform’ and I feel that its sound portrays much of my state of mind at that time. One track in particular (Hiraeth) I feel especially connected to. This track was played at my father’s funeral in June and will always hold a poignant significance for me. It is somewhat fitting that it is the last track on the album.

Every emotion, every loss and every challenge I have confronted in the past year or so has been poured into this album. I hope that it gives you a chance, for however long, to reflect on life and take stock of how many challenges you have overcome and how many more unknown trials you are likely to face with a buried courage you are maybe, as yet, unaware of.

Cloudform (by Anjali Oza):

Through what seems an eternity,
Many moments have passed,
Where words seemed in vain,
And brewing storms have been cast

Aside for another story,
A dwindling tale left to tell,
Slipping slowly through these fingers,
Like a thirst left to be quelled

And when sweet melancholy drips,
From the sorrow-ridden clouds,
You drown in an ocean of alternatives,
Immersed in a feeling so loud,

That it robs you of your silence,
And blinds you to the core,
And the only way out of this danger,
Is to surrender a little more

Until you notice the rains subside,
The sky painted in orange hues,
And the whistling of the wind,
Becomes an old, familiar tune,

That someone once sang to you,
On a day like today,
Where uncertainty hung in the air,
And your sorrows simply lay,

At rest with what was to come,
And made peace with another day,
Because to wage a war with the unknown,
Is a game we cannot play.

Music written, recorded & mixed by Kamal Manzar
Mastered by Andrew J Klimek (Stereoscenic Records)
Album art design by Justine Howlett and Andrew J Klimek