Ambient stillness with: Koiwa – 310

A return of unrelenting rain today. A day to hunker down and stay warm and dry. Here’s something as accompaniment, some beatless ambient from Koiwa.

Koiwa is Buenos Aires, Argentina based Cristián García Laborde. His work spans techno, house and ambient. But today’s offering is firmly ambient. He says he’s “Inspired by traveling around the world, landscapes, flying, airports and airplanes.” A nod to Music for Airports perhaps.

The featured track is 310 from the album Peña. The aim of the track is to “transport the listener to a state of meditation and inner stillness.” Not a bad ambition. And one on which Koiwa delivers.

310 is definitely in thrall to Eno. But this isn’t a track that wants to blend into the wallpaper. It’s too insistent for that. This track wants to hold your attention in order to slow you down.

It’s full of held tones, drones and reverberations. In some ways it’s a short form piece with roots in the 90s chill out. Think of tracks like School of Fish (see below) from 1993.

But it also challenges. There’s the subtlest of edges to some of the sound that burrow into your consciousness and keep you focused on the track. A kind of ‘forced’ meditation perhaps.

Fabulous modern ambient.

~ by acidted on May 21, 2024.