James Osland - Lullabies For Nora
A new ambient album from the label-manager of Elm Records, James Osland from New Zealand. A limited CD-R, 50 copies available on his Bandcamp site below. 7 tracks, about 40 minutes in total.
Think the album is meant as a tribute to Nora, who also did the artwork as well. Family-related, girlfriend... something like that.
The first track on the album is called Be As Wonderful Tomorrow As You Were Today, the most positive-minded track title this year on Kalteldur! Gentle and shimmering sounds of crystalized bells, a breeze through the pine trees, chill-wave synth background with a natural sound of a small river and some chirping birds. Incredibly pleasant and all that. I know I am mostly into dark and disturbing stuff, but I do like good ambient music when it is well done! This is well done, and I am enjoying it! Excellent intro track for the album. Kind of back to nature sort of, but with a futuristic touch to it.
The second track Peace, Like Most Beautiful Things, Begins Small again starts with gentle and mysterious windy drones, slightly melancholic in a way. A kind of a desert theme from Dune spinning in my mind now, it has that retro early 80s ambient feel to it. Steve Roach and Brian Eno kind of. Incredibly dreamy stuff here, and incredible how it engulfs the listener. Some interesting and ethereal flute-like instruments in the background as well. Excellent!
The third track People Becoming More Than People starts with a cold and chilly synth, with gentle and soothing white noise in the background. Additional Aphex-Twin (early) ambient-melodies sets in. Hard to believe that it could get any better, but it did! Is it the sound of a humming distorted guitar in there, some string instrument I am sure? Some post-rockish texture here. Roaring waves of the beach get on the track later on.
The fourth track All These Waves Of Human Kindness gets back to the chirping birds. Again, with the lovely mixture of white noise and ethereal synth work. The white noise bit does actually sound a bit like the needle on the record player.
The fifth track Truly Happy Memories Always Live On remains in the cathedral-like forest with the sound of birds and woody keypads. At this point it does get a bit tedious, sounds like you are lost in the forest of happy memories.
I will now jump to the last seventh track called The Hand-Holding Mine Squeezed Gently. I think I can hear one of those... water-springer? Lots of tiny drops and some dry grass on a hot summer day. Sensing a levitating sensation here, I wanna float upwards for some reason. Kind of laughing gas at the dentist, although this is without the drills and all that! A gentle ending for a gentle album.
An album that starts in a very gentle way, and enters a more mysterious and intriguing territory of sound and expression. I would have liked more of that mysterious stuff, it does feel (when you are halfway through the album) that the mystery evaporates into thin air. Some new sounds or effects give the album an adventurous feeling. The best tracks on the album are tracks 2 and 3, hear them and you´ll understand! The album might have worked better as a mini-album, 3 tracks in total maybee! Give it go, and do give it a listen after a stressful day! It does actually puts the blood pressure down.
