Ambient music always (at least in my mind) is battling this. Intensely cinematic and appropriate as certain window dressings; the craft and delicacy can be lost amidst the hubbub of daily existence. It’s built upon the work of individuals, expressing their individualism, asking for your attention to understand the translation. It takes its time to get across. And, as a societal whole, we don’t have time for that. We want something understood with only a portion of our brain’s attention. And while Brian Eno perfected the idea of music that is ostensibly not to be heard (though can be if it wants to be), it’s not an end point most musicians desire.

For the last few months this has been me with the new (as in last October) EP from Arafúra, which is a beautiful construction of layers upon layers that transcend the very idea of location. Is it a collection of tracks? Is it one single movement broken up for the sake of release?

For certain it is a singular experience.

I’ve been enraptured by its detail and perplexed with where to even begin some sort of evaluation; something appropriate for its effort. Again and again trying to sit down; again and again trying to write what this is all about.

It’s difficult. That’s the simple answer. Another might be the honest truth that I’m not entirely certain what it’s all about.

The album is calming. Beautifully textured and built so that each movement brings its voice to the fold and takes you to another place and time. But, you have to want to listen. You need to allow the time and commitment to understand the language, to get into the conversation.

I kept thinking that it’s like sitting by a fire in the dead of winter with all the time in the world. Dreaming of another time surrounding your core; looking through its window at all there is or could be.

The music takes you somewhere, while leaving you right where you are. It disarms you, forces one to halt the typical engagement processes. Your brain goes askew; your dominance of life plays second fiddle to experience. You pause. It wants you to just let it be.

I’ve decided this is about the best I can do. The music is beyond me. Has attached itself to my awareness of existence, but evades compression. Pushes off the typical ways of discussing what it is to listen.

Arafúra– Humores I – IV Review
Rating
I’ve been lulled – pushed to sleep in order to dream, carried away amongst thoughts and ideals. To listen is to find a way into your life and explore its many territories established on layers that may be barely recognizable. And with this I recommend it. For all its beauty and wonder is truly worth the time.

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I am glad they have. Very glad indeed. So much so I have gone on to look for his non-remixed material, taking considerable pleasure out of his other 2012 release – “Moiety”.

Whilst I did not know who Helios was, I was familiar with some of the remixers that had given their time and talents to the project. Folks like (fanboy alert) the consistently excellent Rhian Sheehan, the mighty Hammock, and the amazing Ulrich Schnauss are all extremely accomplished musicians whose work is given honour on my iPod and in my CD collection.

And it was to their remixes I initially gravitated, skipping the others to hear the work of the people I was familiar with. I was not disappointed.

Sheehan’s remix of “halving the compass” is an utter delight, a track that builds and evolves in a truly engaging manner – haunting piano motif and found-sound percussive sounds characterise this track and provide the backing for the melody. An easily memorable refrain played simply on an electric guitar.

This track then glides nicely into Hammock’s remix of “The Obesiant Vine”. A wonderful track with ethereal vocals, a meandering beat and decidedly catchy melody. This tracks feels like it has been blessed by the touch of Hammock. It sounds like their sound.

I then skipped to the track Ulrich Schnauss was involved in reworking along with Mark Peters (from the band “Engineers”) – “Falling in swirls”. This is completely different from the previous two tracks. More rhythm focused with some delicious synths playing out both the backing and the melody. I guess I wasn’t surprised by this. This sounded almost exactly what I imagined an Ulrich Schnauss remix to sound like, if not better. It really is a deeply vibrant and engaging track – very very IDM. Head-noddingly good.

After I got over my fanboy self, I dug a little deeper and explored the tracks that had been remixed by names I didn’t recognise. I was not disappointed.

The opening track – “Hope Valley Hill” (arms and sleepers remix) – is very future-soul, with a chunky back-beat that supports a wall-of-sound and a delicate melody. An acoustic guitar is glitched-out to create a stronger melody. One that then underpins further layers of sound that come together to make this track. A track that makes the perfect opening for this album.

Jumping tracks 2 and 3 because I have covered them above, I come to Ben Boysen aka Hecq’s remix “Every Hair On Your Head”. An utterly engaging neo-classical expression with a haunting melody played on the piano and swirling drones mixed with ethereal almost-vocals. This track is truly beautiful, breathtakingly so.

Colin Kenniff’s remix of “First Dream Called Ocean” is also particularly good. It reminds me of Boards of Canada somehow – their kind of quirky off-kilter ambience is apparent in Colin’s remix for his brother. This is one track I keep coming back to. It is simply divine, with the ambience interplaying with the acoustic guitar with such ease, bringing a joyous and memorable melody to the track.

The last two tracks do not disappoint either: Rafael Anton Irisarri’s remix of “Hollie” and a previously unreleased Helios track entitled “Caera” really round off an excellent album.

Irisarri’s remix is another joy to listen to. A glitchy drone provides an atmospheric ambience that underpins an almost tribal backbeat and a regular techno ’kick’. It is a fine setting for the subtle melody that is played out in both glockenspiel and bass. Lovely.

We close this album with “Caera”, a previously unreleased track that sits surprisingly well with the remixes. A track that encouraged my thirst for more of Helios’ melodic electronic ambience.

I think this album works because it is consistently good. There are no ’bad’ remixes, nothing sticks out as being inconsistent from the rest. They are all good and all showcase the source material very well.

It is at this point where I fail as a reviewer: I am not familiar with the source material and can not pass judgement on the remixes as they stand in comparison with the originals. But then maybe this is a good thing, because I have approached these tracks as tracks in their own right rather than a reworking of something else, and as tracks in their own right they stand tall, very tall indeed.

This isn’t so much a remix album as a compilation of some really great music. In some ways I am actually loathe to hear the originals as I don’t want to spoil my appreciation for the work presented on this disc.

Helios - Remixed Review
Rating
All in all, this is a great album that deserves your attention, whether or not you are familiar with the work and canon of Helios. As such, I gladly give it 9 out of 10. It would have been 10 but at 45mins, you are left wanting, but only slightly. Yes, the music is that good! Well done to Helios and to everyone involved.

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It’s a mimic.  The album sounds like everything else.  From the sampling to the arrangements, the references are worn on the sleeve without disguise or abstraction.  Though this may sound as a slam, a bit brash and uncouth, this is actually a positive – a complement to the record.  It unlocks it a bit and allows for a grander value to come about.

At first, I didn’t much care for the sound.  I’ve heard the work before and everything kind of felt like a lesser version of something else.  From the first track that samples the movie Donnie Darko I started to feel like I was listening to elevator music.  That kind of slow jazz tinkling that was obviously created by human beings, but that is so devoid of that spirit and strike that you often wonder if the people behind it, the people making a living off of it, would ever lay claim to it.

But that’s not quite fair.  There is more to this record than may initially be heard, but it took me a long time to find it.  There is something about the sound that perplexed me.  It was in its distance – its absence from the scene.  Track 3, Edge of Infinity, is where it really starts and until recently I couldn’t figure it out.

The sound is John Murphy.  The man behind scores for such films as 28 Days Later, Last House on the Left, and Sunshine.  When I finally realized this, the band’s approach took on a different set of rules.

John Murphy’s style is pretty simple.  Combining the basic elements of a rock band with orchestra and sampling, it’s reserved apocalypse.  The end of the world happens slowly over time in such a disconnected sort of way that we are not even sure that it has happened until beyond.

His mixes are often quieter and more muted than one would expect.  This is what I hear in many of When Clouds Collide’s tracks.  They are distant.  Speaking almost of an echo.  It feels as if you’re not getting the whole story.  A certain beauty comes about because of it.  A bit hard rock, a bit orchestral abstraction, and a bit ambient disorientation.

This linking of When Clouds Collide with John Murphy shifted my response to the band.  John Murphy is derivative as well, but it does not lessen the impact.  It is in fact because of the derivative that his work often succeeds.  Applied to When Clouds Collide, it’s an important and valuable quality that says much more about the state of things than if they had tried to do anything wholly original.

The mash up seems to be the point – an acknowledged derivative.  It’s not about breaking new ground, but nullifying the possibility that new ground exists.  The time is gone.  We let it slip through our fingers.  Now we can only look back as history rolls its way forward obliterating what it was we once thought we knew.

The change that bands of influence for When Clouds Collide tried to put in place is a distant memory.  It’s not easily identifiable or playable on the radio.  Records are not broken on the billboard charts and it does not play well in the background noise of our lives.

It questions.  Inquires.  Forces us to recognize that things are not well in this world.

By dancing on that bandwagon, without trying to distinguish themselves from it, When Clouds Collide have actually done more good than if they simply wanted to be the next establishment.  They have put in place how futile it all is.  None of it worked.  The music is muzak and all we want is a bit of distraction from the relevant.

When Clouds Collide - We're Just Making Sound Review
Rating
It’s a great record because of what it says by absenting itself. It’s a great record because what many look for in this kind of music has finally had the death bell rung. This is not something that will either dismantle or reestablish a new order or sense of time. Rather it exists on the backbone of many paths previously tread presenting the whys of its demise.

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This was and is the case with “Even Though We Sleep” by Stray Theories… there was an almost instantaneous attraction on some deep level. Simply put, this album is gorgeous and it was this beauty that was attractive to me. It’s not just charisma but real beauty, the kind of beauty that’s not superficially ’skin-deep’ but has a longevity about it.

I recently went away for a couple of days with my wife to celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary. “Even though we sleep” became part of the soundtrack for this weekend, along with The Beatles, Daniel Robert Lahey and Birdy. Its gracious beauty was so apt for this time away. So perfectly timeless.

I guess that’s the genius of this album. It contains six tracks that eloquently soundtrack the very best life has to offer. They have an upbeat, almost euphoric quality about them. They serve to lift the mood and feed the soul with their genuine, deep and timeless beauty. There isn’t anything superficial about these tracks, no gimmicks or repeated ‘crowd-pleasing’ compromises. They are deeply ingrained expressions of the best in this life.

That may sound grandiose for some, and I do not apologise for my choice of words, because I have been touched by Stray Theories’ release and I am grateful for that embrace.

The music on this release falls into that wonderful no-man’s-land of ambient, electronic, neo-classical and post-rock – a land and a sound I love dearly. Stray Theories’ expression of ambient post-rock is exemplary. He creates wonderfully emotive soundscapes that are rich with melody and please the senses with their encompassiveness.

(yes, I know ‘encompassiveness’ isn’t a real word but if anyone deserves a word created to describe their sound, it’s Stray Theories).

Each track is a delight in and of themselves, but they also work as a cohesive whole. This is why I refer to this album as a soundtrack, it has that intentional quality about it, pervading throughout and infusing it.

His use of field-recordings is subtle but powerful. The crashing waves on the final track ‘existence’ are breathtaking and help to build the euphoric nature of the track, a track that has sunrise written all over it.

The title track and album opener – ‘Even Though We Sleep’ – is similarly euphoric to the final track. It builds such a beautiful atmosphere with the sparse piano and glockenspiel and reminds me, in part, of the excellent work of The Echelon Effect.

After the initial opening, the track changes and uses drones to build and become. This approach really works for me, and demonstrates Stray Theories’ vision for the music he wishes to create.

I could mention the other tracks, and believe me, they are as strong as those mentioned. Especially ‘Everyone Falls’ with its haunting piano-drive melody and found-sound backing. But I believe it would, in some small way, do a disservice to this release. This is a release you, as the listener, need to discover and adopt on your own. I have made it my own and it is only fair and proper for you to do the same.

Oh and before I go, I must make mention of the artwork by Nitin Gargin. It is an expressive illustration that works extremely well with the recording itself. The wallpaper included in the release (for PC and iPad) is an exemplary gift that goes that little bit further to differentiate the release as more of an artefact (albeit still digital in nature) and was something I liked a lot. I would love to see Gargin’s cover adorning a 12″ vinyl version of this album.

Stray Theories - Even Though We Sleep Review
Rating
All in... this album is fab and I would happily give it 9/10. It would have had 10 but at 35 minutes long... I was left wanting more. This is, however, the only criticism I have of what is a truly beautiful album!

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Now when I talk about a sense of place, I mean the sense of being somewhere special, the sense of reverence and, dare I say, holiness or otherness that a place may hold. You may be surrounded by the grandeur of a Cathedral or Temple, or sat in a place of learning. You may be watching the sun rise from a picturesque beach, or from the top of a glorious mountain. There are places that simply take your breath away.

This sense of breathlessness has been with me since I began to listen to “Departure Songs”, and it has stayed with me as I have had the release on almost constant rotation (interspersed with “Lights” by Good Weather For An Airstrike & upcoming releases on my own netlabel).

It is simply that good.

The analogy of ‘place’ also becomes apparent when you take a step back and consider the scope of this release – a 19 track double album – it is vast and ambitious, and Hammock have certainly delivered. They have created something that will stand the test of time, an aural version of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia or the Taj Mahal – something big, vast, grand, iconic and breathtakingly beautiful.

Yes, it is that good.

From the stunning opening chords of “Cold Front” it is apparent that Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson have created something truly magical. The ambience they create coupled with their signature post-rock stylings really makes for an euphoric and unashamedly triumphant listening experience. They create the most gracious and elegant beauty with their guitars, strings, keys and synths.

But there is more. On “Departure Songs” they have brought in the voice and feature some non-instrumental songs in this double-album. ‘Ten Thousand Years’ is one such track that is simply heavenly. It builds in such a celebratory manner that it is extremely hard to remain unmoved. In fact, I would love to see this track replaces “Hoppípolla” as *the* signature post-rock track. You know, the one played on the TV to represent moments of beauty or success.

‘Tonight We Burn Like Stars That Never Die’ is another non-instrumental track, one that has a real M83 vibe about it – an uplifting, emotive track with chunky synths and delightfully ethereal vocals. It is a real highlight on an already great album.
Another great track, ‘Awakened, He Heard Only Silence’, features more ethereal harmonies, vocals that sit subtly at the top-end of the track, giving the track that special something that takes if from really good to great.

Each track, and I feel compelled to remind you that there are 19 tracks in total on this double album, has its own identity. One that is consistent of the larger whole but also one of their own. This demonstrates the care and craft Byrd and Thompson have exercised when creating this masterpiece.

Yes, I will go as far as calling “Departure Songs” a masterpiece of guitar-orientated expressive ambient post-rock music. An album that stands shoulder to shoulder with albums such as “Takk” by Sigur Ros, “Mosaic” by The Echelon Effect, “Carry Us Away” by Lowercase Noises and “Before the Dawn Heals Us” by M83.

Hammock - Departure Songs Review
Rating
I can't fault this release and, as such, give it 10 out of possible 10 stars. This album should breakthrough to the mainstream and not remain the pleasure of a select few ... it deserves to be heard by as many people as possible. Well done Hammock .... well done!

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“But no, always

Spreading the wing of the impossible

You wake, with a cry,

From the site, which is only a dream…”

-Yves Bonnefoy

With Sigur Rós it’s always a question of beginnings and ends.  Their presence is process.  Their work is in a constant state of becoming; unraveling its own DNA.

They do not write pop songs.  They do not buy into the top forty distraction.

And to listen is to commit.  To buy into the time required to experience something just a bit beyond reach.

But, the last decade has been good to them.  They now have a following.  People pay attention to what they are doing.  The work has been legitimated.  And it would seem, at least in the band’s frame of mind, it is time to use it.

——-

Their newest record Valtari is somewhat of a return, carrying remnants of their first record Von, but with a slight worn.  It’s aged a bit.  The sound is weathered.  Time has wrapped itself all over the landscape.

Featuring an extensive use of strings and vocal orchestrations, the music is linked to everything that has come before, but there is more at stake in the sound.  It feels like something has been lost. What they once unfurled is no longer so simple an idea.

The band has always had a certain angelic/apocalyptic quality to their stylings.  It is no mistake that many consider their concerts to be a religious experience.  But, there is something else at work here.  The edges of construction are showing a bit.  The sound is subdued and at times verges on its own destruction.

Like film slowly withering away with every screening.

The burn of sunlight revealing new visions.

It’s fragile.

It’s not a studio album.  At least, as far as the reality of a studio album is often associated.  It’s a crack in the pavement – sounds not always railing to be true.

At times, there is a certain low-fi sensibility embraced along with a more Avante-garde (as in the foremost part of an army advancing into battle) turn a phrase.  Like Radiohead, to whom they are often linked, they are using their legitimacy to legitimate ideas currently on the fringe.  They are making it okay to do these sorts of things.

It’s a world distant from understood.  These words I am writing cannot capture what it is to be a part of these articulations – this lingering of threads to nothing so clear.  Sounds in space – glimmers of a previous known falling out of reach – the adjustment of old radio dials slowly.  Various sources becoming various stages of oneness, hints of other realities, another understanding, informing the ways we rectify existence.

These are end times.  This is their sound.

The album speaks to what we are going through culturally, politically, environmentally, etc, from a future perspective.  When the earth has burned up and industry collapses under its own weight, this will be sound.  When it has all come and gone this will be the remnants of our reality.  “The dream is without end, waking is without beginning; neither one nor the other ever reaches itself.”¹

——-

Sigur Rós - Valtari Review
Rating
It’s a great record. A beautiful collection of tracks as no other band could imagine. After all these years they’ve got more to do and seem to want to do it. It’s a new stage for the band - new ideas emerging. Only time will tell if there is something to fulfill or if it’s a closing of the guard. The links to their origin could be a nice finality. One last sequence of ideas before the particles disperse, becoming part of something new. Maybe it’s for a time to come. Maybe it’s for a time we’ve already seen. Either way, what we have here, is a work that complicates the listening and strives to do more than simply lull us into distraction.

1. Maurice Blanchot, The Writing of the Disaster

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In listening to the new album by L.T.D.M.S. I can see why Godspeed You! Black Emperor is an instant comparison.  But, I’m not sure it is wholly accurate.  Or at least it is not a be all end all comparison.

From the opening track there is a certain mixture of ambient noise that I’ve grown accustomed to on a Godspeed album, but as the track progresses there is also a certain looseness and experimentation that is a bit of something else.

It’s in the second track where I realized that it’s a bit of Do Make Say Think.  And then the album keeps expanding.

Each track is its own character.  Not to say it is not a great album as a whole, but each song is so expansive and goes through so many movements that it is difficult to take it all in together.  And the process itself speaks to a separation: “When designing their second album, (« Insérer titre »), the group wanted to consort with various personalities for the recording sessions. Hence the concept: 4 sound engineers / 4 songs also recorded in different and peculiar places.”  You can feel this on the record.  I often had to listen to one track and pause for a bit before the next.  It aided the process of trying to understand what was going on.

Douze starts with the sound construction according to Godspeed and then moves into a track heavy on the beat that demonstrates affection for what has been achieved.  Then the move to Dix changes things up.  This is where it gets fun and a bit jazzy.  The snare on the drums is set a little lighter and it becomes something of a summer.  Playing it loud on the porch or with windows down, it brings about all that is great in the world.

The third track Six is where it starts to feel like a garage band.  I could imagine myself sitting on asphalt watching friends having a good time.  There is great life and energy to the track that allows the weight of the first couple ideas to be a storm to its calm after breeze.

And then there is Onze which begins with slight static and distant sounds of guitar or bass being plucked, slowly fading into clarity.  The last track also brings back the flute which I found to be the most interesting character of this album as a whole.  You don’t often hear the flute in these sorts of constructions.  I’m not sure if it has yet achieved the full effect that the band is looking for, but its presence promises something I am really excited to hear on future albums.  It offers a dimension to the album that could be a new idea.

All in all it sounds like the band is having fun.

They don’t want control over the songs and it sounds as if they really enjoy playing them out.  They’re onto something, but I don’t know if they are sure what that is yet.  Not enough time has been allotted for the sentiment.

So, I wait for the future this band may bring.  It just might be something this world really needs.  Their music speaks of a space as yet uncharted; a place of their own where mysteries are abound and only they have the key to its existence.

The houses are haunted
By white night-gowns.
None are green,
Or purple with green rings,
Or green with yellow rings,
Or yellow with blue rings.
None of them are strange,
With socks of lace
And beaded ceintures.
People are not going
To dream of baboons and periwinkles.
Only, here and there, an old sailor,
Drunk and asleep in his boots,
Catches Tigers
In red weather.¹

The album ends with voices offering a slight chant before everything dies and the static brings it to a close.   It’s a good place to be.  They don’t yet know all they can do.  And yet the album as such is a really nice piece of work.  I hope they continue and stretch beyond their current surroundings.

L.T.D.M.S. - (« Insérer titre ») Review
Rating
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Oxide Tones Page

1. A Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock by Wallace Stevens

”Home”

These lazy afternoon explorations feature field recordings… percussive sounds… xylophone… guitar… synths… loops and drones… in a wonderfully glitchy yet wholly synergistic manner. The constituent parts all work together to build these most delightful walls-of-sound… sounds that have the potential to envelope you and draw you towards them in a truly intimate manner. You almost feel as it you are there… in room with Harper and Smyth… basking in their creative endeavors… watching as they loop the sound of a ping-pong ball or try to capture the music from the rain shower.

You do not listen to this release as much as you experience it… there isn’t the hooky melody or hum-along backing to draw you in but you are drawn in none-the-less. The sounds presented are warm, varied, and imaginative… and as a result deeply interesting. They allow the mind to drift, if that’s what you feel like doing, but they also provide you with something to focus on, if that is your preference, and I, for one, like this choice. I’m not sure it’s a deliberate choice but one that comes from the serendipity of these tracks… a fabulous bi-product of these most happy of ”accidents”, as Bob Ross would say.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think these sounds have come through chance… but come from an acceptance of and an embracing of chance… of serendipity… of improvisation… the kind that comes after a whole heap of hard work and effort.

Darren Harper and Jared Smyth - Home Review
Rating
I enjoyed this release… and thought, as I have come to do, that the artwork on the cover was first class… a wonderfully detailed and brightly coloured illustration… very homely in many ways. Recommended for the fans of intricate and varied glitchy ambient soundscapes.

To be available from 9th May 2012 via Flaming Pines…

Atsuhito Omori

Embrace has 10 tracks, “Grass Harp” being the first. All the ambient and resonating drone sounds make it perfect for an opener.  “If There is Love” brings forth a highly reverberated piano arrangement. Almost feels as if there is a wall of reverb being built and you’re sinking deeper into it every next moment. Title track “Embrace” begins with the sound of rain. It carries this feeling of waking up to a lazy and a cloudy place (such as England?). “Desire” is another ambient track. Just sounds. Only sounds and notes for six minutes that move you.  “Speak Softly in My Dreams” and next bunch of (most) tracks feature similar resonating and highly treated guitar sounds and drones. Almost as vivid as a beautiful dream. Solitude is another emotion which can be experienced in music presented here.  Solitude in not a negative way but perhaps there are situations where you’re better left alone and want to focus, meditate,self discover or just chill by yourself. Later comes “Sketches of the Truth”, which is highlight of the album. It almost sounds like an epic cinematic post-rock track being remixed by a drone artist.

Overall, Embrace may not be completely new or groundbreaking to the genre, yet Atsuhito Omori manages to develop his signature warm sound throughout the album. Another drawback of album is that the listener needs to be in a state of mind where he/she longs to heal (and deal) with emotional memories rather than just putting the album in rather happier mood.  Its effect can be maximized in such situations.

Ex-Confusion - Embrace Review
Rating
Embrace is a potential candidate for being the soundtrack of your 'dear' memories and summer. In the end, this is highly recommended release if you're an ambient/drone fan.

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His work is quiet.  It lingers for extensive amounts of time, trying to figure out exactly its place to be.  But, that isn’t to say it wanders aimlessly; it doesn’t.  There never feels a lost or out of control way to it as if Kyle set something to loop and just let it go for a while.  It’s purposeful.  There is method to the madness allowing you to linger.

There was a moment over the weekend when Kyle’s latest album really worked for me.  I just finished work outside and put on his record so as to get a taste for its recipe.

And it started to rain.

It wasn’t a downpour brought upon by dark clouds.  It was that soft kind of rain that comes out of nowhere.  The sun glimmered through the droplights and I stopped.

This was a beautiful scene that would have most likely stopped me anyway.  But, Kyle’s music brought it to me in an unexpected sort of way.  The music danced off the droplets.  The sounds of the moment all entwined to create this perfect moment in time.

It’s the greatest thing I can say about Kyle’s new record.  It has a tendency to commingle with its surroundings.  The way it navigates through the air is as if cultivated.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if over the course of our interview Kyle told me he just simply stuck a microphone outside his window and captured tracks off the wind.

His music is a part of this world, but also heightens the experience of it.  The work elevates you and your surroundings with a slightly cinematic quality while maintaining the personal.  It brings about a beauty to your everyday that might otherwise feel tiresome and worthless.

Over the course of the last week I talked with Kyle about his experiences and process.  He provided a line in to how he works and the dreams he has for a future as yet unknown.  I’m excited to see what the future brings to his work.  It would seem nothing is unfit for his slightest evocation.

Garrett: What is your first memory of music?

Kyle Bobby Dunn: Soundtracks, I think. Either television music or movie soundtracks, a specific example would probably be music from The Land Before Time – which I remember had a profound emotional effect that still sticks. It was that and hearing Chris Issak’s Wicked Game in the back seat of my dad’s car. Or very silly country music from my mom.

Were you exposed to music much as a child? Did you take any lessons or listen to particular
kinds of music?

I was given an acoustic guitar and keyboard when I was young but didn’t want to take lessons. I was into recording early on and was just making cassette tapes of bad music that I tried to make sound scary or reminiscent of the movie music I liked at that time. Because I didn’t take lessons, I remember trying to write down how the melodies sounded in my head, that’s more or less how I went about composing and still do.

What drew you to creating your own? Was it a leap to decide to release it?

I just felt it was the only expressive means anymore for me. I’d tried some film-making and writing when I was young and just got disenchanted with its limitations. Sound encapsulates so much feeling and even visuality that I enjoy and almost need at this point in my life. I released the first works myself in limited runs of course and have always been surprised with the positive response most of it has taken.

What drew you to the approach you take?

I’m not sure. I find performance-wise it’s still so limited, and wish to expand and change it for the better in coming years. I’ve always been pretty neurotic about show spaces and performances and it gets harder all the time. I hope my approach is not too pathetic for most listeners or audiences. Sometimes that feeling of pathetic seeps into the music though and is necessary so who knows if I will ever be able to change how I want to do things.

What is your process like? Do you typically work song to song or do you have an idea for an
album in total and build each track with the larger concept in mind?

Songs really are their own entities for the most part. In assembling an album of songs I try and work with placement and what works best with each other, but I can work on some things that stand years apart but will appear side by side later. I like to work on things quietly and with lots of space and room to breathe.

What inspired this latest work? Was there anything particular that got you started? Were there particular ideas that were with you throughout the production?

The theme of my own mind, its sheer complexity and bizarreness to me. I still can’t figure shit out and I’m 26 years old now. There are of course themes that are common to my music on this release, but I think it’s my most honest record in all its simplicity I was able to reach some emotional truths I have not before. So I took everything that I had worked on over the last few years and thinking of it as a whole, it’s just my head. The music of my head and in my head.

Are there any people and/or ideas that you consistently return to for inspiration?

It’s probably overly obvious now that certain places and areas of Calgary (a city from mostly childhood) has found its way into a lot of songs of mine. I don’t return to it so much as it consistently returns to me. There are people from that place that often have their own themes or even songs named after them.

Do you have any rituals when you complete and release an album?

Glass of the vino.

Are you currently working on anything?

New LP for Canadian friend’s label coming later in the summer – finishing touches and layout really. It’s just a bummer of a summer record called In Miserum Stercus.

Is there anything you want to do, but have yet to do it?

Too many to list here. One big thing is play all over Canada and northern territories in mainly indoor swimming pools.

Ok, explain the indoor swimming pools (at least as best you can). What sparked the idea? Why swimming pools in particular?

I had a dream from a few years ago now where in a sort of dimly lit indoor swimming pool where the audience was quietly swimming around in each other’s arms and making out, I was playing my best sounding concert. It has something to do with the water and reverb of the space that would make it a great place for experiencing the concert of my sounds.

Do spaces figure heavily into your performance? Not only live but when recording for a record?

I think so. I am always thinking about space and really enjoy the dimensions and spaces in which I can work on something or perform.

Do you have an ideal space for either?

Somewhere quiet and personal for recording purposes. Somewhere vast, comfortable, or strange for performance.

Do you want people to hear your work in any specific way?

I’d hope in more quiet, controlled atmospheres. A space where one can think or get lost in the sounds and their thoughts. Recently a friend in Chicago told me he was blasting one of my records while driving through busy highways – I told him that was probably a bad idea.

What can someone expect when they see you perform?

To see me being kind of a clown.

How does live performance factor into your writing/recording process?

It’s usually got to be more spontaneous and fast which I don’t like. Especially with the whole traditional rock club setting. They don’t like you to take your time.

Do you prefer aspect of live performance over writing/recording?

I think I certainly still prefer the composing and recording aspect over making live arrangements and concerts happen. There have been some really good performances and memorable times, I suppose that’s why I will continue to play live, but I’m obviously not cool enough for road touring and Pitchfork festivals and such.

What are you listening to right now?

Really liking Grouper’s Violet Replacement.

What does the future (short-term and long-term) look like for you?

Pretty bleak.

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