Seabuckthorn, the project of guitarist and sound artist Andy Cartwright, crafts an evocative blend of ambient, electro-acoustic, and semi-classical textures on A Path Within A Path, released by Laaps. The album unfolds like an avant-garde chamber work, rich with spiritual depth, intricate guitar work, and collaborations that expand its introspective, transportive soundscape.
Guitar alchemy in ambient form
Seabuckthorn is the moniker of multifaceted guitarist and experimental sound artist Andy Cartwright. Avid listeners of craft-based ambient music and semi-classical soundscapes, as well as followers of labels such as Lost Tribe Sound, Eilean Rec, or Fluid Audio, have certainly heard about this brilliant musician. He has published a great deal of material for many key indie labels in adventurous and experimental music, which borders at once on electro-acoustic manipulations and melodious instrumental pop. A Path Within A Path is welcomed by the French Brittany indie label Laaps. Seabuckthorn previously released the fragile and utterly transportive sonic masterpiece Through A Vulnerable Occur for IIKKI (a sublabel of Laaps) back in 2020.
It is no surprise that his work finds an appropriate place among other artists of Laaps’ highly recommendable musical catalog. I’m notably thinking of Somni145 and Danny Clay, and their alluring semi-acoustic sculptures and enchanting microtonal excursions—pieces capable of leading the listener into a world of deep quietness and poetic emotional states. “Thunder Without A Sound” opens the album with an almost ritualistic, ghostly ambient spell, where subtle percussions interact with meandering textures. The following tracks alternate between pure experimentation and mantra-like spiritual evocativeness, moving fluidly from luminous moments to unsettling ones. The lush and crystal-like textures of “Black Boar” almost recall the mystical and religious, worldly jazzy pads of Steve Tibbetts in Northern Song.
We can also note the presence of notable guest appearances, such as ambient pioneer Loscil, who contributes to the superb, otherworldly, and sombre psychedelic piece “Mistral.” From my viewpoint, Andy Cartwright is to guitar what a sound artist such as Gareth Davies is to wind instruments: an innovative musical traveller who consistently knows how to embellish the introspective nature of his music with rich, flowing textures and powerful arrangements. Thanks to its great instrumental variety, this album functions much like an avant-garde chamber music ensemble.
Recommended for fans of Western Skies Motel, Chuck Johnson, Aaron Martin, The New Honey Shade, and other deep, moving explorations in unusual guitar tones, lonesome instrumental wanderings, and evocative, silky ambient dreaminess.
A Path Within A Path is available on Laaps. [Bandcamp]
