lost in a sea of sound

What were the questions asked long ago about the oceans dip below the horizon? A place only seafarers travel and the stories they only know. Lands beyond have always been there, indigenous people part of the whole. Most of the questions were slowly answered over time. Now the same wonders hold true for outer space and beyond. Sounds from Spacetones might not be the scientific answers researchers seek, they are simply the beauty preceding all else currently understood.

Spacetones tilts the consciousness causing thoughts to concentrate in pools of tranquility. Two analog organs orbiting each other, the gravitational pull passed like an invisible baton by experienced athletes. Sounds resonate with the elements held within each of us, connecting with a splendor words fall short of describing. Notes fill space with a richness of sea saturated air or the heavy stillness of an old growth pine forest floor. Permeating everything is so much nostalgia, an aural embodiment reaching back a half …

The genre dial spins for Brief Candles, never resting. Matt Robidoux is chuckling somewhere probably wondering if anyone will have the descriptive writing chops to give Brief Candles a go. And they did.... Leah B. Levinson from Post Trash goes all out, and of course Ryan Masteller has no problem with words. Decaycast Magazine was up to the task, Jack Braunstein, with It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine gives some thoughts as well as Dan Shea with Boston Hassle. There is more, tracks on podcasts, songs on DJ playlists, words in broader collages of sound roundups. This explains why one hundred cassettes have sold out from the \\NULL|ZØNE//, the Athen's label providing this release.... but fortunately Matt has some copies available on his bandcamp page.

And for the sounds... Brief Candles is like spilling out a jigsaw puzzle on the table. The first listen is the same as looking at all of the small pieces turned both right side up and facing down. Play Brief Candles again, now everythi…

Gently push away. Tranquil drone soundscapes at the moment of take off. Like birds lifting themselves from water, peaceful floating interrupted by a flurry of dancing feet and fully used wings. John Atkinson finds time between two provisions, float and flight. On Quattro Terre, field recordings breeze through the construct. Ambient essence and conscious directions momentarily magnified to the place where both intersect. This beautiful composition captures the time it was made, thoughts from surrounding sounds, feelings from the energy of the moment.
Deep on the canvas of Quattro Terre, a sonic contemplation has been composed. An aural reflection painted patiently and evenly, supporting the conscious with tranquil terrain. Voices, birds and surrounding life fill the cracks and crevices of meditative landscape. These field recordings waver and mingle with bursts of electronic flares. A raw beauty hovers above these selections, difficult to describe since we were not actually there. Joh…

This afternoon sits still with thickset humidity slowing the fall of fine rain. Distant Light Receding has been waiting patiently for listening time. With two beautiful ambient releases nestling in during the earlier part of the day, these new sounds settle into a well established rhythm for both listening and writing. James Rosato's project Hypnagogue has traveled through Lost in a Sea of Sound once before. An earlier recording titled Adrift was described here. Distant Light Receding takes momentum from Adrift, adding density to establish the first full length from Hypnagogue. The path of both releases hold similar orbits, a clue in understanding how committed James Rosato is with his alternate sonic direction. An exclamation point can also be added since this is 001 of his newly created label "Momentary Solitude".
These aural tapestries push on the thresholds of sonic stability. Insightful creativeness causing the most subtle destruction of the pure flow. The illusion o…

Rain taking the form of falling mist, the gentleness depicted by the stillness of all that is green. Time seems motionless, as the sun is covered by a blanket of grey whiteness. There is s thickness in the air, warmth and moisture combining to nourish life. This is a drastic change from the full sunlight of the day before. Sabriel's Orb has these qualities, an ambient temperance of tranquility and splendor. Sounds delivered gradually, with care and love. A composition providing both a resting place and charge of sanguinity. A welcome change from the flood of noise each day produces.

Sabriel's Orb is the project of Willow Skye-Biggs. Two years ago Lost in a Sea of Sound had the pleasure of describing a Sabriel's Orb release on Whited Sepulchre Records. This was part of the labels split cassette series, and a few copies are still available from the label. Unless some sounds have circulated off the radar, Sabriel's Orb newest titled Skin to Skin makes the second release …

Warbled strings playing through aged black and white photos of forgotten souls. Expressions showing a deep sense of overwhelming exhaustion and simultaneous grins of controlled fortitude. Those dwelling in the vintage pictures are long removed. Their rebirth hinders in the unknown, here now, before or soon to be. Eschatology continues to breath with sonic sighs. An aural canvas for thoughts of existence both individually and the collective of those who surround. Sounds traversing ethereal borders, lines that are mysteries and the paths disappearing deep within them.

Cloud Dweller is a project by Glenn Nelson. With previous releases on Endangered Species Tapes ann Jolted Souls, Eschatology moves to Michigan's Flophouse label. Four tracks divided over a brimming half hour of beauty. Like the definition of the title, these sounds illicit feelings of a heaviness we all share. The next drift awaiting us, fused with a tapestry of both sadness and joy. These tracks bud, bloom and decompo…