Kyle Bobby Dunn :: Rural Route No.2 (Self-released)

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(September 2010) In a genre where stylistic differences are more or less subjective, mistaking one artist’s work for another is a given, and would probably be more common if ID3 tags didn’t exist. Aside from those seminal artists that actually managed to forge a signature sound (again, a dubious designation) in ambient, most others should be prepared to constantly be compared to others in the genre. Even though the preceding two sentences were a feeble and probably ineffectual ploy to cover my imminent comparisons of Kyle Bobby Dunn’s latest EP to other ambient kingpins, I’m still going to do it.

Rural Route No. 2 sounds like early Eluvium trying to recreate parts of The Ballasted Orchestra by Stars of the Lid; and I mean that in the best possible way. The Ballasted Orchestra always came across like it was holding seas of emotion back, and it was breaking under the pressure. On Rural Route No. 2, Dunn is a little more emotionally forward, but never wanders into sappy, cinematic territory.

Both pieces are interesting to look at as pieces of Dunn’s memory. The absence of any emotional cues from titles or lyrics gives freedom to ascribe anything we want to these slabs of drone – what is Dissonant Distances? A plane ride? A walk near train tracks? Similarly, “Senium III” can be thought of as a recollection of sitting in church, or standing under a roof during a rainstorm. The power in these pieces lies in their versatility; they are powerfully emotional, but not for any one specific reason. Remarkably, both also accomplish what a good deal of underground music has been trying to do lately – evoke strong memories of the past without referring to specific events. Instead of achieving this through the use of dated synths and re-hashing 80s culture, though, Dunn does things the right way: viscerally, seemingly without effort. Dunn may still be in the shadow of Stars of the Lid and other ambient luminaries, but he’s certainly doing a good job of distinguishing himself from the rest of their imitators.

Rural Route No.2 is out now. [Listen | Purchase]

Kyle Bobby Dunn