This is an organic and analog-sounding collection of soundscapes, heavily inspired by the ambient music of Brian Eno. A lot of effort has gone into making music that is without a discernible beat, features essentially no melody and very little harmonic progression, yet still remains an interesting and pleasant listen. Whether you want to listen actively and attentively, or put this on as background music, is up to you.

Hopefully, this music will put you in the reflective mood the title suggests.

Reflections

With Refractions, I revisit territories established by last year's album, Reflections. That album was composed with a strict dogma in mind: no beats, no rhythms, and as little melodic or harmonic progression as possible. In the spirit of "restriction breeds creativity", I wanted to explore music less driven by melody and percussion, and focus more on moods, textures, and dynamic or timbral development.

Predictably, Reflections ended up breaking all of these self-imposed restrictions, though only sparingly: the worst offenders were cut during the album process. In Refractions, a handful of these make a reappearance, alongside new compositions that further loosen up the strict rules of the original.

Like refracted light, the eight compositions on Refractions shoot off into different directions and different colourings than the original. Still, I find that a common thread runs through these two companion albums: a closeness to nature, a calm and reflective state of mind, and a celebration of ambient music in the style pioneered by Brian Eno.

Refractions

Envisioning lazily sifting through beached debris in the afternoon sunlight.

A track from an EP that never came to be,

Beachcombing

Tides

Reedland

Discreet

Discrete

Gray/Grey

And/Or

Refractions 2

The Watcher

The Night

Refractions 1

Gloam/Gloom

String Theories

Terminal

Morning Haze

Ambient chill-out track in the vein of Xerxes and Enigma, composed in a flurry on 8 May 2010.

Shafts of Light

Ambient track based on solar oscillation sounds compiled by A. Kosovichev of Stanford University. 4 June 2010.

Winner of Zan's Current Events Compo on Trax in Space in 2010.

Silhouettes

Quick piano improv, done in the spirit of "keep it simple, stupid". No after effects added, other than a very subtle pad.

September 3

Ambient piece based around a slow growing chord that builds to a big climax.

Imagining the spectacle of watching a sunrise or an eclipse in space.

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A bunch of youngsters made a music video for this track during a film workshop in Kristiansand on April 24th, 2016. It looks pretty cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hVRTHFkiJs

Eye of the Morning

Remix by Janne Hanhisuanto (www.janneh.fi).

Ascension (JanneH remix)

Fairly simple ambient track based on an ascending synth improvisation.

Big thanks to TiLT / Espen Gätzschmann for providing lush background strings from Omnisphere.

Ascension

Composed for Naviar Haiku Challenge #580:

quiescence! / touching not the blossoms / temple bell's voice

Download flac

Ichi-Go Ichi-E (naviarhaiku #580)

Finally releasing a song that has been gathering dust since I first put it together in 2010. All guitar and bass parts are played by me, everything put togheter in Reason and tinkered with endlessly. Drums are plotted note for note, drum kit from the excellent Reason Drum Kits refill.

Taking Wing

A dreamy, floating, slowly descending arrangement based on some stretched-out samples taken from "September 3".

Composed in Reason 8.

Underwater portrait by Jacob Sutton.

Sinking into a Dream

"It was twenty years ago today..."

And it was.

This track was originally made in Impulse Tracker on January 3rd, 1997. For ages I've been thinking that i ought to reuse some of those old samples and do a remake, and here it is! While it may not entirely warrant the long waiting period, it's sure good to hear a more accomplished version of a track I made back way back when.

The sample(s) opening and ending the track have always been a mystery to me, evoking underwater scenery and the low hum of a bathysphere engine. Taking that as a starting point, I eventually made a slow, meandering and meditative track with the middle section repeating itself almost hypnotically. The original ran a full 14 minutes, this version a more conservative 10 - slicing a lot away from the original and adding a slightly more dynamic second half.

Incidentally, if anyone can identify where the opening sample is taken from (I appropriated the sample from an old .it file, lineage unknown), I'd be very happy to be pointed in the right direction.

Enjoy! Hopefully.

Underwater Mysteries

New collaboration ambient EP with Armenian ambient artist Aram 17.

In an experiment we both sent over a couple of unfinished tracks for the other to work on. These four tracks are the result of this collaboration.

Length: 20:53
Released: March 1, 2017
Genre: Ambient / Dark Ambient / Downtempo

Metropolis

Metropolis part 1: Street Light Phenomenon

EDIT: The YouTube channel "Horror Music World" made a music video to accompany this track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sjCVnfrPqs

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New collaboration ambient EP with Armenian ambient artist Aram 17.

In an experiment we both sent over a couple of unfinished tracks for the other to work on. These four tracks are the result of this collaboration.

Length: 20:53
Released: March 1, 2017
Genre: Ambient / Dark Ambient / Downtempo

Metropolis part 3: Neon Noir

A slow, free floating ambient piece that starts out quite placid but ends on a more sinister tone with the addition of a guitar part a la mid-70s Tangerine Dream.

This is the third release in a series of improvisations I did on my (then) newly acquired Roland Edirol PCR M-1 back in 2007, Dead of the Night and Frozen Nomad being the first two.

This track was featured in a podcast by @intros_pections: https://soundcloud.com/intros_pections/introspections-podcast-presents-tore-aune-fjellstad-012

Evening Star

This piano-based ambient dronescape piece was composed specifically for Introspections Podcast: 
https://soundcloud.com/intros_pections/introspections-podcast-presents-tore-aune-fjellstad-012

The music itself is densely layered. The opening and ending statements are simple enough, but these short performances provide the basis for the lengthy middle section. Here, samples from the opening and ending are stretched, reversed and crushed into oblivion, and combined with parts recycled from several of my previous piano releases, slowly building to a climax. Hopefully, the detailed layering leaves you wanting more even after the full 19 minutes.

Random Acts of Kindness

Single edit, taken from "Random Acts of Kindness". 
https://soundcloud.com/taf42/random-acts-of-kindness

Originally composed for Introspections Podcast:
https://soundcloud.com/intros_pections/introspections-podcast-presents-tore-aune-fjellstad-012

A Random Act of Kindness (single edit)

aka VOiD / Medieval Future
Trønder in exile down south.

Is/was a member of the Star Control 2 remix team: https://soundcloud.com/herecursors
...along with occasional collaborator Espen Gätszchmann: https://soundcloud.com/espen-g-tzschmann

Tore Aune Fjellstad

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