Mythos is the duo of pianist Bob D’Eith and guitarist Paul Schmidt. Active in the New Age scene from the late 90s to the early 2000s, the two took a six-year break to pursue other careers. Now they’ve returned with Journey, ready to reintroduce listeners to their stories. The disc actually runs a bit too light in spots for my personal tastes, but many tracks still manage to catch my ear, and it’s definitely going to resonate with New Age listeners. The musicianship, for one, is excellent; just listen to Schmidt’s rich classical guitar style on the brief and beautiful “Nocturnal” or D’Eith’s romantic neoclassical piano on “Inner Peace.” Although that track is lightly flavored with string pads beneath, it is, in sensation, a lovely piano solo. Elsewhere, one hears touches of a world-music influence. It comes through in the Spanish guitar flourishes at the start of the title track, which  put me in mind of Acoustic Alchemy. Here again D’Eith’s piano becomes the focal point, paired with vocal pads and synth swirls for a piece that’s energetic, yet with a calming underflow. “Novaya Zemlya” has what I can only describe as a Baltic lilt, a balalaika-type instrument plucking out a melody in tribute to (yes, I Googled it) an island in the Russian arctic. It’s snappy, reminiscent of gypsy music, and catchy.

The music on Journey is something I’ve enjoyed more in a larger mix than as a straight-through listen, but that’s only due to my own predilections. It’s well-made music, nicely constructed and effectively layered with a narrative sense. Each piece is its own full story. As I said, if your tastes run to romantic, genre-right New Age, I think this Journey is one you need to take.

Available from Adagio Music.

Here’s a space where drowsy guitars lingering at the edge of post-rock meet underplayed electronic textures. The new collaboration between Yellow6 (aka Jon Attwood) and David Newlyn has a raw, improvised feel and an unhurried pace that makes its brief 38 minutes pass much more slowly. Attwood plays like a guy who’s idly noodling, each note only occurring to him the moment before it’s played–but it’s always the right note. Long pauses hang in the air, which Newlyn fills with gossamer-weight drones and pads. Adding to the atmosphere is that wherever Attwood’s part was recorded, the space has the wide, hollow resonance of an empty garage or dank basement, and the notes ring lightly off the walls. The two artists complement each other perfectly, with Attwood taking the somewhat gritty, roughened side of the equation and Newlyn the refined, rounded edges. Newlyn’s work never presumes to take the front or to draw attention to itself, and that makes it work all the more. It’s the waking-dream backdrop, the smoky haze curling around the room. A great, atmosphere-filled release well worth checking out.

Available from Sound in Silence.

Life Cycle, from composer John Puchiele, is a moving suite of pieces that blur the border between ambient and new classical music. In working the listener through his titular conceit, Puchiele switches sides as the journey goes forward, and the balance is perfect. The ambient work here is soft and drifting. “Thinking” nicely pings spacemusic’s standing tropes with its slow-moving choral pads, rich tenors and angelic sopranos trading phrases in a dreamy mix. “Climbing” is another cloud-motion flow, built on rise-and-fall pads underscored with nice bass tones. It moves easily into “N.D.E.,” an uplifting drift on softly repeating pads, a lulling wash of sound. Like all of Puchiele’s work, there’s a strong emotional core at work here; it’s not just about getting lost in the ambient music, it’s about taking on the feel that’s offered as well. On the more classical side, the two “Life Gets Busy” pieces take an interesting tack that will certainly conjure thoughts of Steve Reich. Strong minimalist strokes power both; “I” is a string piece, played in short, sharp notes with a bit of a sense of urgency. Late in the track, a high repeating phrase comes in counterpoint and the whole piece works its way up to a wonderful density of sound. On “II” Puchiele takes to the piano and lays out a rapid-fire barrage of notes that could be equal parts Reich and Philip Glass. Again, the base is minimalist but increases in complexity and intensity to reach a perfect expression of its title. “Foundations,” another piano piece, makes use of heavy notes and the potency of sustain to mix a melody with its own created harmonics. Puchiele alternately patiently waits out the sustain before proceeding or simply folds the next notes into it. For a short piece, it’s very memorable, and drives its point home nicely.

Life Cycle moves effortlessly from one track to the next, creating a sensible narrative as it goes. It’s calming in spots and potent in others, but always engaging. Puchiele’s playing is elegant, often because of its apparent simplicity. He’s taking set phrases, short, tight elements, and setting them gently in place. The result is deep–certainly as deep as you care to listen. A gorgeous work that should get much repeat play, and a contender to make “Best Of” lists across the genre this year.

Available from John Puchiele’s web site.

Using just bass guitar and effects and recording almost everything in one take, Theo Tol, recording as Crow’s Labyrinth, turns out a mixed batch of more-or-less dark ambient on his new release, Travels. It’s an interesting concept that works for the most part. The disc starts fairly strong; “Frontier” and “Influx” focus on atmosphere and working with a fairly small set of sounds. It’s nicely grim, and the simplicity of the sound-set lets Tol create spaces with real depth. Particularly on “Influx,” there are places where the bass becomes an animalistic growl, something lurking in the dark with unpleasant intentions, and the tense feel Tol crafts plays into that. And then we come to the appropriately titled “Gibberish,” which quite frankly grates a bit. It sounds like Tol is playing a set of bedsprings, the wobbly sound venturing dangerously close to irritating. “Reverie” and “Strategem” move back into a darker space, but both feel a bit too static for their own good, their long stretches of repetition growing quickly stale. Travels goes out on a pair of good notes, the two best tracks here. The first is an older bass solo called “Below.” Over hissing, slightly metallic background sounds, Tol works his bass through ringing harmonics and a melodic anchor line. This quick 3-minute hit is nicely coherent among the rest of the pieces. The closer, “Heliograph,” builds on curls of processed sound that come off like reverse echoes, layered over long, quiet drones and slowly plucked bass notes. There’s a cool organic feel to it, a calming, liquid condition that pulls the listener in. The good outweighs the so-so on Travels in quality if not quantity. I admire that Tol challenged himself to create these pieces in one go. When he’s on, he’s most definitely on–and that would be the times when he shows more restraint and a better eye for structure. This is a disc that’s well worth looking into, but will definitely appeal more to people whose tastes run to the dark and experimental.

Available from the Crow’s Labyrinth web site.

As I noted in a December 2012 review of 3AM Tone’s work, what I’m reviewing here isn’t a single outing per se; rather, it’s an aggregation of monthly releases that the artist has been turning out since October 2012. They don’t exist as a collected thing but are individual downloads on the artist’s site, and the plan currently extends through October 2013. I’ve been given a file with some past, present and future releases for review. (For future reference, this isn’t something I do often.) 3AM Tone continues to dole out ambient drifts in something of a by-the-numbers style. Airy washes drift and cross, high ends reaching upward, anchored with grumbly low ends. My problem with it is that I found myself wanting it to do more, to go deeper, to take a turn that makes me pay closer attention. And it doesn’t. The pieces on their own are fair enough, good low-volume backdrop pieces, but it doesn’t feel like the artist is striving to do something bigger or more intricate. The depth of detail that I prefer in my ambient listening doesn’t make enough of an appearance to hold my interest. I wanted to like these pieces more than I did. The artist’s site has links to YouTube videos of the songs; I suggest you check them out to see if the work is to your taste.

Available from 3AM Tone’s web site.

Guitar textures, gritty post-rock and floaty ambient mix on the remastered re-release of Silencio’s very limited-edition (40 copies) 2010 CD, Floods. Julien Demoulin heads up a quartet that shift gears easily from the folksy, synth-augmented “Arale” to the raw garage-rock edge that graces the middle of “No Memories, No Ghosts” to the broad, experimental space of “Embarcadero” without a mis-step. “Again Again” is a favorite track for its use of a minimalist structure, slow pace and a repetitive bass line, all melting into a quietly hypnotic stretch. “The Lost Resort” is a melancholic post-rock piece, with slow-played chords glimmering in reverb over a lazily moving bass and guitar sighs. There’s a nice hesitancy to it, the space between notes played out to just the right length. This is an easy disc to drop into. The guitars are earthy and grounded against the dreamier wisps of the disc’s ambient elements, and everything is carefully balanced. A close listen turns up a lot of detail and texture, along with slight touches of field recordings that can come as a pleasant surprise once you’ve wandered deeply into the music. A great release from Silencio that’s been getting a lot of play here at Hypnagogue.

Available from Sound in Silence.

 

Northcape (aka Alastair Brown) returns with a smooth, easygoing blend of downtempo keys and glitch beats on the very listenable Exploration and Ascent. Although there are eleven tracks, it’s not long before Brown’s style melts into a good, uninterrupted flow and it simply feels like one continuous and lovely journey. There is the feeling of some sameness in work as the disc goes along, but it manages to come off as thematic rather than repetitious, and actually works toward helping you get lost in the music. Brown is good with the complex beats, but also nails down more amorphous flows like the start of “Potentilla”–which picks up its own beat later in the track while still singing its main melody softly in your head. Tracks like “Arrive Rutledge Col” might pull up some Boards of Canada memories. Many of the tracks here possess that certain warmth of tone, the slow bounce and lazy lope that plays so well against the crisp snap and hurry of the glitch beats. A personal favorite that falls into that category is “Meltwater,” a quick hit where the main sequencer line is high and a little shiny, a pleasant pulse over a humming pad and cool bass.  “Mackerel Sky” is pillow-soft, with typewriter-key percussion and an old-school-sounding sequencer run. Headphones are highly recommended to take in Brown’s excellent layering and his use of small sounds as perfect accents. This is a disc that deserves all the repeat play it will get.

Available from Sun Sea Sky.

Ready for another round of super-uplifting world music from AOMusic? Hokulea delivers that once again, fueled by the brilliant and distinct voice of Miriam Stockley and lead instrumentalists Richard Gannaway and Jay Oliver. They’re aided by four choirs and another 11 musicians from around the world to empower this batch of energetic songs. There’s a certain similarity at work, with the jubilant tone and vocals that vary between actual lyrics–in Swahili, Indonesian, Hindi and “Polynesian”–and words invented more to catch a feeling than an actual meaning. But to that end, Hokulea becomes one big ongoing one-world party. There is variation, of course. Stockley’s silky voice opens “Kuimba” in a way that reminds me of Clodagh Simonds’ work with Mike Oldfield. Its softness contrasts with most of her contributions here, which border on soul-shakingly joyful. “Hokulea” is sung in English and begins with a sort of world-folk feel, helped along with Celtic flute. Speaking of the Celts, “Irie Grá Medley” is a jig for the new era, vibrant and catchy–and even works in a little hint of didgeridoo to spread the global love. (I do wish Gannaway & Co. had more clearly broken out who’s playing what on which tracks–proper credit is very due on this wonderful piece!) As with everything AOMusic does, Hokulea is a celebration of spirit and a call to a global one-ness. This is a message that is best heard at volume in a place where there’s room for dancing. Give in to the joy and enjoy Hokulea.

Available from the AOMusic web site.

This line on the press release for Derelicts of Distant Hope, the debut from Polish dark ambient artist Abandoned Asylum, caught my eye: “With dark ambient, it’s not so much about reinventing the wheel (which isn’t so easy to do given the genre’s defining characteristics) as much as it is about setting the mood.” Well, I’m glad someone other than me said it, because it’s largely true across the board, and pretty much true for this release. The tone is grim and the sounds are dense. Big, swelling drones heavy on the bass end clash with industrial clamor. Nothing here really moves the needle from where it usually points, and the disc will likely only appeal to core dark ambient fans.

Available from Malignant Records.

Dan Pound opens up tribal and mystical spaces on his new release, Spherical. For this outing, Pound pulls some of his sounds from an interesting source. While working on this disc, a now-replaced bit of studio equipment would sometimes play back tracks from another album Pound was working on, but at half speed. Recognizing the potential is these fresh rogue sounds, he worked them into Spherical. This, added to his usual arsenal of synths, guitars, flute, percussion and more, drives another deep and well-orchestrated excursion. Listeners with some ambient background will likely pick up distinct bits of the influence of Steve Roach in various parts of  Spherical. “Only A Memory” sounds like what would have happened had Roach thought to add understated beats to Structures from Silence. Pound’s pads have a tone that’s close to identical to that disc’s, but the slight sidestep he takes with the beats keeps him in his own territory. And the title track has its share of familiar echoes, from the curvy analog squibs to the rise-and-fall backing drone. Which, again, doesn’t detract from the quality of the thing. It’s still a deep groove in a nicely carved-out electronic space. Pound’s fully in his element when he takes the listener into tribal zones, beginning with “Lookout Point.” Native American flute vies with growling bass drones and ominous pads, a nice mix of organic and electronic. It conjures up (in my head, anyway) a wonderful visual sense, a sort of man against nature feel, the flute coursing in the face of an oncoming storm.  Then “At A Distance” keeps it going by ramping up the percussion with clattering sticks and throwing in dark, spiraling pads and hypnotic drones. You’ll happily lose your way in the middle of this piece, and the way it pares down toward the end, spreading into a wide vista, is superb. Pound uses this to carry into the calm swirls of “Through the Center,” the disc’s long showcase piece. (And, I admit, the start of this, with crow calls and long pads, put me in mind of part of Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces–but only until the rest of the track swept me up.) Then, unexpectedly, acoustic guitar with a bit of  Spanish flair comes in, a grounding presence in the deepening space. Pound works in a bass pulse, its insistent repetition becoming a mind-salving element as he thickens and intensifies his layers. This track exemplifies why headphones are a must for this journey. As always, Pound pays laser-focused attention to his small sounds and they way they’re worked around your headspace, and that work demands equal attention from you. The acoustic guitar returns on the closing track, “Like Tears In Rain.” Here the guitar trades off with high, soaring pads in a cleansing New Age sort of mix that lifts the darker aspects away and brings the disc to a soft close.

Spherical is another great release from Pound, and one of his darker excursions in a while. He’s always been a solid tribal-ambient musician, and that’s the standout element on an overall strong set of pieces. Very much worth a close listen.

Available from Dan Pound’s web site.