Ambient Sunday with: Leah Kardos, IKSRE, and Kymat #Ambient #Classical #Drone #Electronic
Back to Sunday and three ambient tracks from Leah Kardos, IKSRE, and Botanica.
Leah Kardos is a London-based composer, producer and pianist. Her work mixes live instrumental performance with technology and found sounds. There’s often a classical air to things which doesn’t always work for me. But on DeeDee we get something much more electronic. Strings swell and throb but with a synthetic edge. There are clattering electronic beats. And there’s a rush of powerful emotional undertow here. But slightly inexplicable in the way it comes on. And then things change. Half way through this unexpectedly soars off. All a bit epiphanic.
Next, IKSRE (I Keep Seeing Rainbows Everywhere). Otherwise Naarm/Melbourne-based multi instrumentalist, producer and “sound healer” (huh?), Phoebe Dubar. The track is Wylah, a drone piece full of found sound for the Australian bush. IKSRE says, “This piece came from a conversation I had with a Wylah (Yellow-tailed Black Cocktatoo) one afternoon in the forest. I had been hunting sounds all morning and was losing hope of getting anything worthwhile, so I was packing up to go home. I had almost reached the car park when two Wylahs appeared from nowhere and began chatting with me from the branches above. It was quite magical. I can’t explain how or why but I just knew they were talking to me. Asking me to record them and share their message.” It’s certainly does have a weight of sadness hanging over it. The tones are of a deep and rich timbre giving that mournful air. The vocals are wordless and have a keening quality. Until it fades away to nothing. Haunting.
After birds, plants with Kymat (Sven Meyer). From Germany and working with Das Bo and Carsten Meyer. The track is Botanica that says it makes plants audible and translates sound waves into water waves. If that all sounds a bit confusing, don’t worry. Have a listen. Or watch the video. This is a rather lovely sound sculpture that revels in the awe of nature and the nature of sound. There’s tropical birds, wibbling electronics, clicks, whirrs and drones. It’s all very meditative. But in a good way. Caress your most cherished house plant and have a listen.
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