Michael Valentine West :: p23-6 (Kaer’Uiks)

With Michael Valentine West as our trail leader, these fragmented and fragile ambient/dreamlike sounds offer us the clarity and focus needed to energize and push us forward.

This surreal sonic voyage is more than necessary

There’s a place we all know about that’s tucked away from the chaos and noise, where one can go and find comfort, quiet, and peace. As we make our way through, perhaps only a few miles away, this desolate location that others do not know too well is where you find the most calm. As we’re taking that walk, there are subtle disturbances, far away glitches in the landscape, and nuanced distractions, but we continue to push through anyway. Various bumps in this beaten trail zigzag around ruffled verdant foliage as a brief wind gust pushes against our body while traversing the jagged terrain. This escape into strange sound fields, as we make our way to that tranquil spot, is peppered with organic, improvised, and vintage notes drifting by subliminally.

Nostalgic memories begin to take shape only to break apart and deform into newer conscious waves. These curious soundscapes fade in and out of view as light and dark pathways that were once familiar are now somehow foreign. This surreal sonic voyage is more than necessary—the destination is only an end point where relaxation can begin to take shape. With Michael Valentine West as our trail leader, these fragmented and fragile ambient/dreamlike sounds offer us the clarity and focus needed to energize and push us forward.

p23-6 is available on Kaer’Uiks. [Bandcamp]