Winters Past is a very enjoyable mainline ambient drift album featuring wintery atmospheres and notably subtle emotional compositions.
Stretches of time spent alone
I had a relaxing time listening to Winters Past by Drifting In Silence and in many ways, it is a very emblematic ambient release. Full of drifty strings and pads, the music is easily identifiable as ambient. It mostly resembles the early synth work of Steve Roach. The extended player could be played nearly anywhere, from an office to home, to an outdoor installment. It would sound in each place appropriate and calming. It is not eccentric enough to be differentiated easily from other ambient drift albums, but is a good example of them, and has many strong qualities.
Beneath the icy atmospherics are very carefully composed pad melodies. The melodies are evocative of solitude and loneliness. Isolationist in tone, Winters Past is ideal for passing hours spent in solitude. A listener might picture the snowbound settings implied by the title. They would find melodic subtleties matching the cold with the emotional impact of stretches of time spent alone.
Additional features include a piano pulse in “The Embrace,” which adds a tactile, rhythmic quality—and some very precise sequencing in “Shimmering Memories.” These sequences are concisely rendered, much like the rhythmic sequences in Steve Roach’s Dreamtime Return.
Winters Past is a very enjoyable mainline ambient drift album featuring wintery atmospheres and notably subtle emotional compositions. I do recommend it, especially for fans of drift-style ambient music.
Winters Past is available on Labile. [Bandcamp]
