A weekly digest of music discovery. Featured in this edition: BPMoore (Anna Yarbrough rework), Ciro Berenguer, Derek Hunter Wilson, Erik Williamson, G Strizzolo (ft Ludvig Cimbrelius), Hammock, Ilyia, Rime Trails, Tim Linghaus, and William Ryan Fritch.
BPMoore – “Through The Trees – Anna Yarbrough Rework”
from Komorebi (Reworks) on Rhodium Publishing
London-based composer & multi-instrumentalist BPMoore made quite a splash with his debut release Komorebi on the recently founded Rhodium Publishing and should do so again with this beautiful and varied collection of reworks including an exceptional treatment of “Through the Trees” by label founder & producer Anna Yarbrough, a fine composer and musician in her own right.
Ciro Berenguer – “Los entresijos de la noche”
from the Bruma EP on Slaapwel Records
Very happy to see the first release in over two years Slaapwel Records, a small label based in Belgium that specializes in “music to fall asleep to”. Bruma is a delightful EP comprised of this single long-form piece by Argentinian guitarist and composer Ciro Berenguer who currently lives & works in Barcelona. The English translation of the title is ‘the ins and outs of the night‘, a perfect description for this lulling electroacoustic ambient gem.
“Late autumn, the dreams, their colour and their shape. Blurred memories and travels. The seconds before and after falling asleep. The awakening. The boreal and southern winter. The end of the day, the mist where these sounds were born.”
Ciro Berenguer
Derek Hunter Wilson- “Pyrrhic”
Derek Hunter Wilson is a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Portland, Oregon who also records improvisational ambient music along with harpist Joshua Ward as part of the duo Niksen. Featuring Mirabai Peart on violin and a cover photo taken during the recent California wildfires by Nika Aila States (aka red steppes), the piece beautifully articulates both a sense of loss and an awareness of the sometimes hollow victories that seem to characterize the times we are living through.
Erik Williamson – “Hunters in the Snow”
from The Streets Are Quiet, But The Birds Very Loud on Fluid Audio
Few labels can match the perennial quality of Fluid Audio where bespoke editions sell out within days, if not hours, of being announced. The sense of immersion is irresistible on this track from The Streets Are Quiet, But The Birds Very Loud by Australian sound artist Erik Williamson, a release which marks the return of the label’s exquisitely curated ‘Notebook Series’.
Note: a few copies may still be on offer from Norman Records or Erik’s Bandcamp page where a digital download option is also available.
G Strizzolo – “Midgard [feat. Ludvig Cimbrelius]”
from Yggdrisil on Stereoscenic Records
There’s been a slew of fine releases coming out of Stereoscenic Records this year, much of which I hope to share on the blog soon. One of the many fine tracks I’ve been enjoying is this ethereal collaboration with Ludvig Cimbrelius (aka Purl/Illuvia/Eternell) and G Strizzolo from the latter’s new Norse-themed epic ambient journey entitled Yggdrasil.
Hammock – “Into the Blank”
from the Into the Blank/Madi EP on Hammock Music
Few artists in the world of instrumental music have a compass as locked on to true north as Hammock and few are as capable of creating comforting sounds that forge an empathetic connection with their listeners. Offered as “audio medicine to be used as an escape from the madness we humans created for ourselves”, their latest EP came as a pleasant surprise not unlike an old and sorely missed friend showing up unannounced on your doorstep.
Ilyia – “Tamazula”
a digital single on Rhodium Publishing
Back to Rhodium Publishing again, this time for a wonderfully transportive piece of acoustic music by Californian songwriter & finger-style guitarist Ilyia which evokes warm, sun-soaked memories from her youth in Mexico.
“Tamazula is the name of the town where I’d spent summers as a girl in Mexico. Some of my favorite memories came from my time there with my family. It was a place of simplicity, warmth, and beauty…Life hasn’t been as simple as those childhood summers, especially this year, so I wrote this song in a moment of appreciating the memories of those simpler times and trying play in the spirit of those sweet summer nights in Tamazula.”
ILYIA
Rime Trails – “The Light of Setting Suns”
from The Light of Setting Suns (self-released)
And now its off to colder climes, namely Denmark and the realms of ambient drone created by the mysterious Rime Trails as exemplified in this ornately textured title track from their newest album The Light of Setting Suns.
Tim Linghaus – “Magnolia Drive”
a digital single on 1631 Recordings
1631 Recordings has been steadily releasing a wide variety of albums, EPs, and digital singles including this beauty from German musician & composer Tim Linghaus, who I had the pleasure of interviewing on the blog in February of last year (you can read it here). Also be on the lookout in December for Tim’s new record Venus Years which follows the quietly stunning We Were Young When You Left Home as the second in a series of albums in which he looks at divorce from a child’s perspective.
William Ryan Fritch – “Movement IX”
from Solidium forthcoming on Lost Tribe Sound
After last year’s monumental Deceptive Cadence: Music For Film Volume I & II, it is almost hard to believe William Ryan Fritch has more music to share this soon, but he is actually releasing no less than three albums in 2020 as part of Lost Tribe Sound’s Fearful Void series, two under his own name and one as alter-ego Vieo Abiungo. This piece is one of 21 movements from Solidium, the last of the three to come out and one which finds the eclectic composer experimenting with the use of close miking techniques to blend upright piano, cello, violin, and harp with digital keyboards to formulate a new sonic approach that seeks a different kind of connection with the listener.
“Many works of art have been made amidst this pandemic and it’s been fascinating seeing how artists have translated the experiences of heightened uncertainty, loneliness and longing for connection. Solidum is Fritch’s one search for connection and deepened empathy in a world where touch and closeness has been so cruelly taken away from our means of showing love.“
LOST tribe sound
Stationary Travels 