Peaceful and relaxing contemplative piano music

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Decent Sampler Felt & Fog | Unheimisch, Felt & Fog | Passing Thoughts, Felt & Fog | Hoffmann Felted and Singing Bowl all played by Piano Motifs.

SWAN Cello all played by me with GeoShred.


#345 Lazy, ponderous, gentle sounds

“Sallaw” is a Kurdish word that expresses the passing of time, and on this new album the three sound artists have found a way of expressing that notion in music. Four tracks of slowly unfolding ambience make up this collection, each piece named after different months, again in Kurdish. The four sections represent the different seasons and their movement through time.

Sallaw

Buy CD / DL

PORYA HATAMI | AARON MARTIN | ROBERTO ATTANASIO - Rêbendan

from 'The Dusk Loom' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den320
available on all formats at https://denovali.com/petrels

Oliver Barrett returns with his first Petrels album in three years; The Dusk Loom. Having put out a steady album-a-year since 2011, culminating in 2016’s Jörð, Barrett decided to take a step back from the project for a while, not wanting to releasing albums out of habit and wanting to be sure that there was something new to say.

The result is at once the most expansive but also personal Petrels release to date. Three years in the making, The Dusk Loom builds on the eclectic sonic palette of Barrett’s back catalogue but brings these sounds into sharper focus than ever before. Those hoping for the all-enveloping dynamics and textures of past Petrels releases will not be disappointed, but over the ten parts of The Dusk Loom, Barrett puts this trademark euphoric aural scree to work in new and unexpected ways.

Drawing on myriad influences as fans of Barrett’s have come to expect, the resulting themes of the album are perhaps woven more intricately than before. In The Dusk Loom, Barrett takes an evocative approach to storytelling that asks the listener to draw their own meanings from the clues and references running through the sounds and words. Finding inspiration in mythology - both ancient and new, the work and writing of Remedios Varo and William Blake, memory, death and cosmology to name just a few, Barrett pulls these seemingly disparate strands together into something that is unmistakably Petrels but which also points the way to something new.

Petrels is the solo project of Somerset-based musician and artist, Oliver Barrett. Since releasing his debut, Haeligewielle, in 2011, Petrels has toured across Europe and shared a stage with the likes of Jóhann Jóhannsson, Tim Hecker, FIRE!, Nate Young (Wolf Eyes), Trouble Books, Demdike Stare, Nadja, and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster).

“Petrels sidesteps the chilliness found in much of the music of his peers, replacing it instead with an almost spiritual ecstasy, his ravishing synths and almost choral vocal treatments calling out in cosmic, wide eyed wonder at the universe.” – Paul Margree, Louder Than War

The Dusk Loom

Petrels - Surface of Last Scattering

For today’s exclusive track premiere, we are honoured to share with you James Murray‘s slow-burner, titled “In Your Head” which is literally a half of his brand new album, titled "Embrace Storms" [the other half, being another long-player, “In Your Heart”], released as a multi-format split between his very own Slowcraft and KrysaliSound labels. The two pieces sonically capture the weather patterns which are rising and subsiding, rising and subsiding, all on their own, in the caverns of your mind, body and soul, where, instead of fighting, or even worse, identifying with this uncontrollable climate, you can notice, use soft focus, and then let it pass. Let it all pass… The music serves as a perfect meditative accompaniment to your daily routine, in order drown out all of that hum, and accept things as they are…

"James Murray’s new solo work takes the form of two carefully constructed long-form sound collages; twin formations gradually unfolding in continuous, ever-evolving streams of delicately controlled chaos."

The release is out in just a few days, on November 9th, 2019, and is available as a CD from Slowcraft and a beautifully pressed limited edition vinyl from Milan-based KrysaliSound imprint. Highly recommended for the seekers of their inner peace…

Embrace Storms

TRACK PREMIERE : James Murray - In Your Head

Live piano improvisation over a beat for Piano Day 2020.

Hold On

Stream / Buy: https://lnk.to/litwaydown

Mt Went is the collaborative project between Andy Cartwright (Seabuckthorn) and Dave Anderson (Von Braun). Mt Went is two friends from different musical pursuits, who have managed to create two well-crafted and beautifully weathered indie albums over the last ten years.  

Even though nearly a decade lapsed between the making of 'Sheltering Sky' and 'Lit Way Down' the two albums feel inextricably linked to one another. 'Sheltering Sky' was recorded back in 2010 when Cartwright and Anderson still lived in same small UK town, Witney, Oxfordshire. Yet it has never seen a proper release and sat unattended for nearly a decade until Cartwright revisited the sessions in 2018 to give them a proper polish. While doing so, both Anderson and Cartwright rekindled a fondness for the material and decided a follow-up was in order.  That follow-up became 'Lit Way Down,' an album built from many long distance file swaps in the increasingly rare moments of downtime, with Cartwright now living in the French Alps and Anderson still in the UK.

Built Upon A Fearful Void Series (New Masters Formatted)

Mt Went (aka Seabuckthorn) - The Owls Are Talking (from Lit Way Down)

Purchase / Stream: https://lnk.to/sailcloth

'Woodcut' is the debut album from Sailcloth, the project name upright bassist/multi-instrumentalist Alex Luquet records under. 'Woodcut' released July 2nd, 2021 with US label, Lost Tribe Sound.

The Pennsylvania native caught the attention of Lost Tribe Sound with the 2019 EP 'Close Keeping'. Its strong lean towards a highly textural and bass-forward sound connected it to LTS immediately.

Original discussions about the debut record centered on creating an album that pushed the often background role of the upright bass to the foreground, letting the rich, sturdy tones that the instrument is capable of be the star of the show.  With the thirteen songs of 'Woodcut', Sailcloth has well surpassed this original outline, undoubtedly giving this massive wooden instrument center stage while also delivering an album that is unexpected yet comfortable simultaneously. It delivers on those rumbling cathartic lows, though it equally gives way to some of the most satisfying big-hearted highs.

'Woodcut' contains this wide-eyed sense of wonder, warming us with its nostalgic melodies and deep earthy undertones that point towards a strong commune with nature and all that breathes around us. At times, it is refreshing, joyful, undeniably playful. Further still its gritty, awkward, elusive, contemplative. Never fully pledging its allegiance to just one spectrum on the color wheel, ‘Woodcut' evades easy classification and the stereotypical jazz-like outcomes one typically expects from the instrument. Best we can figure, it's electro-acoustic music with a longing for travel, adventure, and real connection. It's music that is eager to share its colorful experiences with all who will listen and reward them with sure-handed nuance not often heard in debut albums.

Sailcloth - Woodcut (from Woodcut)

Today we are proud to premiere a track by Hior Chronik, taken from an upcoming compilation on 7K! Records, titled String Layers. As the title of this release suggests, the 18 compositions on this collection are dedicated to, designed around, and created specifically for violin, viola, violoncello, and contrabass, “drawing a varied and multicoloured narrative through the contemporary instrumental music.” The compilation features 18 composers from around the world, including some of the already known names, and indeed, some of my favourites, such as Simon Goff, Echo Collective, Vito Gatto, Ceeys, Aaron Martin, Himmelsrandt and of course, Hior Chronik, among the many. The works are modern classical in nature with a barely noticeable crossover to the electronic ambient world, featuring textures and treatments to carry the voices of the stringed instruments. Hior’s piece is particularly gentle and moody, slightly sullen in the lower register, brooding over the boundaries set forth by the abstracts society and the conditioned mind, and in the process reminding us not to heed them, and do your own thing.

Preorder here : https://7K.lnk.to/StringLayers

String Layers

TRACK PREMIERE : Hior Chronik - Pay No Attention To The Boundaries

It's been a crazy year so far and so I took a day off. From everything. I spent the day reflecting on the present. I spent the day away from noisy thought. In the evening I sat down at my piano, took a breath, and played the simplest tune that I could muster. It is minimal and slow. It's in a major chord but still feels sullen. I wanted to share it with you in hopes that it will bring you peace.

Mike Lazarev - Simple Piano For These Complex Times

Here are some original solo piano pieces...  some mixes from my podcast... some exclusive track premieres...  and some tracks from the albums I review on Headphone Commute... Enjoy!