Steadily holding the course upon reaching cruising altitude, co-pilots Loscil and Irisarri curate with aplomb what is proving to be the prime showcase for new work by well-established ambient and experimental electronics artists, with the odd fresh new face.
[Purchase page] The second volume in Air Texture‘s digipak built for two compilations continues to deliver new, quality, true ambient. The only actual organizing theme of the series is the statement that they are offered “through the musician’s perspective.” The debut set was selected by Brock Van Wey (bvdub) and Andrew Thomas and they did yeoman work constructing two highly enjoyable, immersive hour-long listening experiences.
This time the handles have been taken by Loscil and Rafael Anton Irisarri, a complementary pair from either side of the Pacific Northwest Canadian-American border. Loscil has certainly succeeded in doing the “brand” name justice, choosing pieces which instill the air with palpable texture—Sawako’s “Else” goosebumps the skin. From the drops falling from the eavestrough on Marcus Fischer’s “A Fifth Season,” rain is a recurring element, to the point where Pan American whips up a full-blown storm on “Tx.” The weather continues to be generally inclement—the chill of “Field 3” by Rob Bridgett penetrates right down to the bone—but there are places of shelter, even if it is a cold comfort, like Solo Andata’s “At Commissure.”
Loscil’s side has a tincture of sadness, while Irisarri’s opens with Marcus Fjellström’s weather-beaten but transportive “fairytale,” “The Eroding,” before Sawako returns with a domestic field recording complete with flushing toilet. Its homey insignificance is succeeded by Simon Scott’s magnificently transcendent “Modena,” one of the most uplifting tracks debuted by the Air Texture series thus far. This very soothing, also very textured air is maintained by Library Tapes and Lissom, before Mokira emerges growling with an abstracted dub offering that slowly gains heft and materiality. After Benoit Pioulard (with whom Irisarri recently completed a duo album) and Eluvium drift past, Kyle Bobby Dunn imparts a sea of tranquility with “Le Passerelle de Ses Yeux,” reminiscent of Eno’s “An Ending (Ascent).” Irisarri himself plays a solo piano enshrouded in reverberating violins entitled “Black Days Follow Me Around” as cloudy skies persist.
Loscil ended his mix with the equivalent to a seaman’s church hymn by Mitchell Akiyama, “Dirge for the Canon,” and Irisarri has Lawrence English pipe up a rustier but similarly sacral organ on the penultimate track before bvdub drifts two angelic voices heavenward.
Steadily holding the course upon reaching cruising altitude, co-pilots Loscil and Irisarri curate with aplomb what is proving to be the prime showcase for new work by well-established ambient and experimental electronics artists, with the odd fresh new face.
Air Texture Volume II is available on Air Texture. [Purchase page]
