Original Soundtrack by ASC (Review)

Over the years, the highly prolific James Clements — who records and releases music under the ASC moniker — has made a name for himself in the worlds of jungle, drum n’ bass, and IDM thanks to releases like Mind Over Matter, Shifting Realities, and Limits to Infinity. But while I enjoy his atmospheric take on those genres, I actually prefer it when Clements sets aside the beats and instead, lets his atmospheric music become even more expansive.

That’s precisely what made 2019’s The Waves such an engrossing listen, and the same holds true for 2022’s Original Soundtrack. Putting his samplers and drum machines back on the shelf, Clements sits down at the piano to compose eight haunting gray-shaded instrumentals that suggest Harold Budd’s work with their simple-yet-immersive tonalities and contemplative nature.

But while the Budd comparison is the most obvious one to make, I find that Original Soundtrack also has quite a bit in common with Tor Lundvall’s shadowy music. As is the case with Lundvall’s work, songs like “First Act” and “Third Act” find blurred drones and twilit tendrils of ambience drifting in and amongst the sparse piano arrangements, with the result being music that exists in a liminal space between comforting and haunting.

As I write this review, I’m sitting in my living room. I’m home alone — my wife is running errands, my kids are at school — and the mid-afternoon autumn sun is filtering in through the blinds. By the time Original Soundtrack winds down with two of its most otherworldly and atmospheric songs, my surroundings have been transformed into somewhere else by Clements’ music. It’s disconcerting to look up from my screen and see a familiar environment now made less so, but it’s fascinating as well, a peculiarly sublime moment of zen made possible by Clements’ skill as a producer and musician.