bench at the lighthouse

He's A Resourceful Man

Slow Heart Music is the acoustic side project of ambient and drone musician Ben Rath. Based in Manchester, UK, Ben has released music under his own name with labels including Sound in Silence, Unknown Tone Records, Eilean Rec., Cathedral Transmissions, Moonswing Netlabel, Triple Moon Records and Whitelabrecs. As Slow Heart Music, Ben focuses more closely on solo acoustic guitar instrumentals and has released albums exclusively through Whitelabrecs.
The majority of Ben's musical output finds its home in the rich and diverse territory of experimental ambient and drone music. Ben creates compositions using original recordings of guitar, keyboard, and piano, as well as samples, field recordings, and digital synthesizers. These sounds from various sources are then moulded, transformed, and edited together to form instrumental arrangements which span a wide variety of styles, tones, and emotional registers, with inspiration drawn from pioneers in the genre such as Tim Hecker and Lawrence English, the early ambient works of artists such as Sean McCann and Colleen, and the emotional weight and resonance of Constellation Records greats such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Esmerine (among many others).

Under the Slow Heart Music moniker, Ben strips things back to explore the simple joy of the acoustic guitar. His playing, influenced by the likes of Eric Chenaux and Richard Dawson, as well as the gentle beauty of solo piano works from artists such as Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds, combines a sense of playful and spontaneous improvisation with arrangements and compositions that often express a gentle and tender emotion.

For his new album ‘Hope’, Ben returns to the artful acoustic arrangements and soulful guitar playing that marked his debut as Slow Heart Music, ‘This Body Is Not Me’ (2017). Armed with the same £5 half-size classical guitar which was used to record the first time around, Ben adds a second classical acoustic borrowed from his girlfriend in the spirit of using whatever was to hand to create with. He had a vision for the sound he wanted to achieve, which builds on influences from artists that embrace the mournful and melancholic, but also find beauty and uplift amidst the sadness. As Ben explains, “I’ve struggled with my mental health ever since adolescence, and music was the thing that often provided me with the most solace and comfort. The artists that inspired me were those who were expressing something that felt real to my experience, that taught me that I was not as alone in my feelings of deep sadness and anxiety as I often felt, and that meaning and beauty could still be found and expressed in the midst of it all.’’

Those who know him would describe Ben as a quiet, calm, and reserved person, but his music is the space where he is able to express himself more fully. ‘Hope’ is a collection of soft and minimal pieces, steeped in emotion and feeling, at times mournful, at others uplifting, but never seeking to prematurely soothe or distract from the suffering of the world, instead sitting in the mud of it all, and seeing what can be created from there. It is Ben’s sincere hope that his music may help some other lonely soul feel that little bit more connected and understood.

Hope

wlr161 Slow Heart Music - Hope

Heading North

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Format: CASSETTE
Pre-order: 12th July 2024
Release date: 19st July 2024

"all the ways in which i am mute" is a sort of attempt at the meditation practice of tonglen. tonglen comes in different ways but it's about taking in the pain and suffering of others and giving back compassion and relief. an endeavor to try to be more outwards and amongst.

the work isn't about how to perform that practice or even claiming any growth with it but about the struggle and acknowledgement of the parts of life outside yourself and what it might mean on any given moment to open to that. it's about my failures with this as much as any success.

Copyright © 2024 ROHS! RECORDS, All Rights Reserved

previews. daily rituals - all the ways in which i am mute | Lᴏɴᴛᴀɴᴏ Series

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Cover: https://soundcloud.com/weedownloudind_that & @himruma

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EOD - Chloramphenicol

A Scene in a Cafe

Artist: Aztronouth
Title: Subhori
Genre: Electro
Released on: https://aztronouth.bandcamp.com/track/subhori 
Mastered by: Lloyd Stellar
Artwork: Montylov

Subhori

08 MTCH - Eftosiphy

You See Me (Paolo Mosca Remix)

Orange

62: Entertainment - "Club Red Rose" | https://summerisle.bigcartel.com/

Entertainment - New Vision

This is one of 3 tracks that were made solely by using the analogue synthesizer EMS Synthi 100. For each track, there was a single patch and the material was recorded live in one go. Rhythmical synchronization of the material was done by using the Synthi's sequencer. Simple live manipulations included putting a pin or two in and out and switching on and off the mixer channels. Additional panning of each individual channel was done on a computer. These tracks demonstrate the effect of extremely simplified musical material produced by using the not-so-simple sound tool (for the reference, try figuring out and programming a Synthi 100 sequencer:)). Tracks are named by the number of sequencer steps used in that piece. Recorded live at Electronic Studio - Radio Belgrade.

2019

From the album STEPS: https://svetlanamaras.bandcamp.com/album/steps

Svetlana Maraš©All rights reserved
©SOKOJ

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Himruma

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