Atmospheres 第1 by Eco Virtual (Review)

If you’ve ever wondered what sort of music might’ve played in the offices of public access weather channels circa 1989, then I’ve got your answer. Eco Virtual describes their music as “atmospheric research & analysis music,” and it’s exactly the sort of music ’80s meteorologists (probably) grooved to while studying cumulonimbus clouds and calculating effective precipitation or saturation vapor pressure. It’s light, airy, and moves as smoothly as clouds across the face of a perfect blue sky.

So yes, this is pretty cheesy, muzak-y stuff (as is the case with much vaporwave). And yet, there’s something rather fetching about its complete lack of guile and its decided and staunch un-coolness. Consider the loops of ’90s “greatest hits” R&B that comprise “Bermuda High” or the manner in which the sax and piano float around each other on “Gradient Winds.” It may be uncool and unhip (dig that pan flute on “Valley Breeze”), and its decades-old sensibility may be cloyingly nostalgic — but I get the sense that Eco Virtual isn’t under any illusions to the contrary, which is something I can respect.