“Ambient” Reviews

For those times when you just want to lose yourself in some sad, nostalgic, starry-eyed ambience for an hour or so.

The sort of downtempo music that’s best listened to when you’re too tired to stay awake but not tired enough to go to bed yet.

Dynamic Stillness is one of the more challenging Steve Roach releases; it’s not without its rewards, but it makes its own demands of the listener.

A collection of poignant solo piano pieces that’s perfect for looking at faded photographs and thumbing through dusty old books.

The brevity of Amir Abbey’s haunting ambient pieces belies their emotional effect.

Northern Valentine’s latest conjures up massive, ominous soundscapes that beckon to be explored by patient listeners.

RIYL Hammock’s guitar-based ambience, Robin Guthrie’s solo recordings, and Stars of the Lid.

Language of Landscape’s final release is a graceful, evocative end for the duo.

Carss’ compositions are quite evocative and even occasionally intimate.

There’s a sense of slow burn here, a sense of movement towards a deeper, darker realm of sound that is only apparent in hindsight.

All in all, In Sea Remixes offers little new insight into Aarktica’s music or any of the remixers.

Memories Fade Under A Shallow Autumn Snow creates contemplative, evocative soundscapes out of gentle guitar drones and sparse piano arrangements.

“Down to earth” ambient music; a mixture of field recordings, instrumentation, and drones creating some evocative soundscapes.

Aarktica’s latest is a return to the drone-oriented ambience of their earliest releases, but it exhibits a polish and poise that only a decade of experience can provide.

St. Kilda’s music is the perfect soundtrack for strange, somnambulistic moments.

Perfect soundtrack material for late night excursions.

Even among diehard shoegazer fans, Chorus might be something of an acquired taste, but it’s never less than fascinating.

These four songs are inspired by the paintings of Claude Monet, J. M. W. Turner, Ken Bushe, and Mark Rothko.

Black Happy Day leaves the listener smack dab in the middle of a foreboding, constantly shifting environment.

These songs are fragile, tender, ephemeral things… and they are best experienced and celebrated as such.