This is the second track from the forthcoming Ben Lukas Boysen album to make the blog, so I hope you're taking notice by now. The first one I covered was "Quasar", a deep, meaningful slice of dancefloor dynamite that creeps up on you wave by carefully constructed wave, but Boysen isn't all about late nights and lost weekends on Berlin dancefloors.
His origins are in rural Germany and "Alta Ripa" reflects that bucolic, more contemplative upbringing, surrounded by views of distant hills rather than GDR apartment blocks or shiny new testaments to capitalism and the construction industry's thirst for profits.
The same impressive production values are apparent, he's certainly put in the studio hours and spent his equipment money wisely, there is a genuine depth and richness to all his recent work, whether it's his big system bangers or the somewhat, if not melancholic, then introspective ambient waves of "Alta Ripa". The frequencies ease out of the speakers, take their time reflecting off the walls of your listening space, reluctant to relinquish their calming properties, levitating for as long as possible for maximum effect before gradually fading into the void. There is real beauty in its simplicity.
It's a lovely slice of ambient electronica, a fine choice of LP title track and builds further anticipation for November 29th's album release, which is certainly in my diary.
Playlist Companion:
You can find "Alta Ripa" and more horizontally suited vibes from the cream of the independent and alternative ambient underground in the Slow Ambient Playlist:
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