Ambient Sunday with: Wil Bolton, and REB3L. Daydreaming optional

A couple of tracks for daydreaming from Wil Bolton, and REB3L.

Wil Bolton is a composer, musician and artist based in East London. He says his work is, “usually site-specific and inspired by place, memory, resonance, psychogeography and finding beauty in ruins, decay and the details and textures of everyday scenes.”

Here’s a track inspired by a scent – Sandalwood. It’s taken from his Null Point album, out next month. Unlike some of his other work it does have beats. But the “Minimal beats are constructed from thuds, clicks and crackles sampled from a vintage 7” record of heart sounds.”

The track is almost seven minutes, uber long in the tik tok age. But it’s worth carving out the time to appreciate this as the effect grows with the minutes spent.

Sandalwood is a mix of slightly dub techno sounds, dubby piano and rippling keyboards. It has a gentle Eastern sense about it without it becoming overwhelming. And the variation provided by the range of sounds and beats stops it going too yoga mat.

The track has a lovely flow to the sounds and dub techno’s effect of slowing the heartbeat. This is beautifully captivating.

Next, REB3L. This is Isuru Chamara from Sri Lanka. But there’s no real biog, simply an instruction “Don’t root for top chart artist. Don’t root for the artist you seen in the advertisement or you read about in the press. So, just don’t root for the names the network has pushing. Root for them and root for all others. Don’t just listen to the names. Listen to the music.”

The track here is Beyond The Beat. REB3L says it’s a song without structure, though I have to confess I didn’t notice such is the lovely drifting nature of the music.

Beyond The Beat, as the title implies, is a beatless piece of ambient. Nevertheless it’s not wallpaper music. This is music that is here and present. It manages to demand some attention.

It’s full of chiming, slightly spiritual sounds. Things go round, disappear, reappear. And the lack of structure means you can’t quite predict what happens next. Soothingly liquid.

~ by acidted on January 21, 2024.