Once again Huddleston manages to keep his seductive signature sound and style alive and effervescent while exploring new districts in his idiosyncratic and very addictive sonic universe.
Dennis Huddleston, aka 36 (pronounced three-six), currently one of the most refreshing ambient creators in the adventurous fringes of the musical spectrum, has very recently treated us with the beautiful Dream Tempest—an album that marked a new direction for him and one of the finest ambient releases of 2014. In January, a new gem from him will be released as a 3-track LP (limited to 100 copies) and digitally with a bonus track—a 12-minute extended remix of “Stasis Eject,” the second track on the EP. As anybody familiar with Huddleston’s 36 work would expect, Pulse Dive is an emotionally and atmospherically charged affair. Once again Huddleston manages to keep his seductive signature sound and style alive and effervescent while exploring new districts in his idiosyncratic and very addictive sonic universe. Pulse Dive, in a way, is an extension of Dream Tempest, and a very successful one.
To me it feels that there is more to explore in this direction; I’m certainly curious to hear how far Huddleston can stretch and deepen this new road he’s been paving quite secretly for quite a while now. The three tracks on the EP are different from each other, but have a couple of things in common: they display a more emotionally exposed Huddleston than a couple of years ago, and pulse and flow with a glow of one-take-improvisation (even though they weren’t exactly made this way). Dream Tempest, of course, displays all these qualities as well. There’s just something so captivatingly raw and sincere about this music, it feels like you’re in the studio with Huddleston, experiencing him live. Some might disagree with me of course, but I feel that Dream Tempest and Pulse Dive are 36’s most individual sounding accomplishments. I’ll surely be even more pleased if he’ll produce three or four more tracks in this vein, and release Pulse Dive as a full-length album, hopefully on CD as well. If you’re not familiar with 36’s work yet, well, then take a dive.
Pulse Dive is available on 3six. [Bandcamp]
