*** This review first appeared in TSMM's January 26th newsletter where you can get all the recommendations (and more) first ***
I do like to start the newsletter with something ambient or as near as I can get, especially as the newsletter often arrives on a Sunday, surely the perfect day to indulge or dabble with the genre? If you want another suggestion I actually love to pop some ambient music on my headphones if I head to a big bad city, or if I’m flying solo overseas, the calm of the soundtrack is a genuine tonic to the urban hustle, airport bustle and low budget airline engine noise. Try it sometime.
Midori Hirano is a Japanese pianist with an adventurous approach to her instrument, and an often electronic fusing approach to composition, in fact pretty similar to collaborator Brueder Selke, who is actually a they in the old school sense - two brothers: Sebastian Selke on cello, and his brother Daniel Selke on piano. All are resident in or near Berlin, hence the faraway look as they dream about living somewhere warmer.
I shouldn’t laugh though, I’m currently hunkered down indoors due to 80kph winds that are trying to blow my building over, backed up by sheets of horizontal rain to make those who ran out of milk and bread today regret it. Fortunately the trio have left their wet jackets and occasionally noisier tendencies at the door, and the LP is an astral voyage to balmier dimensions and a serene slice of plutocratic escapism, the perfect antidote to the bluster and buffoonery outside.
Harano and Daniel Selke can be found behind the piano, seemingly competing to be the least intrusive. Sebastian Selke takes care of the classically rooted, inventively bowed cello and is by far the busiest acoustic player. But what keeps all three busy are the impeccable ambient electronics that provide the synthetic thermals to elevate their acoustic colleagues.
The LP really is a cultured, beautifully crafted start to finish listen.
Playlist Companion.
If you need a longer sound bath then hop into the warm waters of the the
Slow Ambient Playlist sometime:
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