Always a pleasure, Observation Point produces yet another brilliant album of ambiance. From OP’s website:
Recorded in Wales in 2011, the latest collage of atmosphere, tones and space. Inspired by the Philip Connors book ‘Fire Season’, this is a homage to wilderness, solitude and the dark spirits that haunt our forests.
Frequent Sync is the collaborative ambient project of Jacob Newman and Darren Harper. Distant environments, textured movement, and discreet melody combine to usher the experiment in sound. Music for quiet moments.
Familiar Fields marks the first full-length ambient/drone album (also the debut by the FreqSync duo) featured here on the label. It is hauntingly calm and quiet, with moments of reflection amongst a forward-thinking journey through time and space. That space seems like Earth, perhaps beginning from above, with Windwalker bringing us down across the steppe of Asia, out of the nighttime sky, through dawn, and into the morning hours as the Sun burns away fog. In Sunloop, quiet overtones reminiscent of throat singing join in from afar as we greet the day, while Ebb brings familiar strains of stringed instruments… like the morin khuur (the Mongolian “horse head fiddle”).
Familiar Fields, the title track, captures afternoon rains across the landscape. Here, raw nature meets the urban environment as we find ourselves closer to what seems like cars whizzing past on wet highways. This blends seamlessly with the rain, breathing and swelling in and out, like Windwalker. Steam and fog rise again as the rain passes, and insects play in the fields as Current brings us towards a close. Time Around sets a mood of reflection, with Tibetan “singing bowls” chiming in to offer opportunities for meditation and focus at the end of a sweeping, cross-country journey.
Description from the artist’s website: “Space, tones and rhythm.”
- An accurate (albeit humble) summary of Observation Point’s 5-track release, of Pulses and Drones. The perfect getaway, Pulses is an album for thoughtful daydreaming and playful meditation. This is the unmistakable balance of space, tones, and rhythm that makes OP a favorite here at Seedsound.
