Rudy Adrian :: Reflections On A Moonlit Lake (Spotted Peccary Music)

Reflections On A Moonlit Lake is a meditation on freshwater mysteries and the delicate feelings of being at a lakeside camp in the wilderness. Rudy Adrian paints sylvan scenes with sound. There are no maddening blood-seeking insects at this lake.

New colors come through the darkness

Moonlight steals color from whatever it touches. On this album, new colors come through the darkness. This is all very magical. Moonlight, remember, is no more exotic than sunlight reflected from the dusty surface of the moon. Moonlight is a bit like seeing the world through an old black and white TV set. White or silver flowers that bloom at night are both fragrant and vivid beneath a full moon. Reflections On A Moonlit Lake is a meditation on freshwater mysteries and the delicate feelings of being at a lakeside camp in the wilderness. Rudy Adrian paints sylvan scenes with sound. There are no maddening blood-seeking insects at this lake.

Rudy Adrian is an ambient musician from Dunedin in New Zealand. In addition to his studio productions, he also is known for presenting works in a variety of venues ranging from concert halls to planetaria. Rudy first started making electronic music while studying Forestry Science at the University of Canterbury. However, he soon abandoned Forestry Science, to tutor students in electronic music at the University of Otago while completing a degree in Botany. So far his albums form two distinct series: Atmospheric Works and Sequencer Sketches.

“A long time ago I discovered it’s no good to take a keyboard out INTO an outdoor setting and try to be inspired, or even to compose while looking out at a view. The scenery tends to make the music sound better than it really is, and as a result, my musical judgment becomes compromised. Instead – just as many writers of prose and poetry also find – a blank wall is probably the best view while creating. This means that whatever is being created HAS to stand up by itself.”

The sound has hardly any melody or rhythm but instead focuses on a mixture of what are largely gentle sounds or textures, creating an evolving audio skyscape. The feeling starts with a bottle-blow effect, a flute-like wispy choir-ish sound, creating the sensation of rising, whilst reflecting and flickering in the lake and sky. On the lake’s shore warm waves weave and wash, the sound of water is followed by a flute, which is in turn followed by the synths. “Mirror Island” (3:10), suggests an easy open warm glowing sensation, with long sustained tones and small but vital percussion. The gigantic old door starts to move.

The next two tracks originally were heard in Rudy’s 2002 collaboration with Ron Boots, found on Groove Unlimited Records, Across the Silver River. “Dawn Across the Southern Ocean” (Remix) (5:32) brings a slowly spreading warmth lighting up the sky. “Papanui Lagoon” (Remix) (3:49) has a soft and lingering form and feeling. Whatever confusion there was gives way to celestial openings. Slow sustained chords float and glow. The water is deep.

Rising colors, cold and beautiful ::

Rising colors, cold and beautiful, “Lunar Shadow” (3:47) suggests russling breezes, the piano  swoons, eventually a form makes some shade, but hidden motion could mean danger. Something you want but can’t have, there is a hidden landscape out there, “Tantalised” (2:47). The gigantic door is still slowly opening, the mystery is continuously and joyfully emerging.

The Orion correlation theory is a fringe theory in Egyptology attempting to explain the arrangement of the Giza pyramid complex, an advanced and ancient wonder of the world, remaining from a now vanished, global progenitor civilization. “The Belt of Orion” (6:11) creates a vast sky story within huge vistas, exposing deep space using sustained tones that go on forever. There might be slow gigantic monsters who might notice me as the door breathes and moans. The darkness hides my location, we are summoning the angel, I hope the angel comes. “Midnight Angel” (4:14). I hear a very lonely flute “Within the Darkness” (4:09) and I am afraid of becoming lost. The hour is perhaps too late. The music tells me that this is forever, but soon the fear dissolves.

The sky is clearing above the lake again, the “Rising Moon” (7:50) brings increasing illumination with bells here and there, and a flute. The silver light makes new shadows, slowly stronger taking more shape while the flute forms the edges. Nocturnal insects flicker, we are drifting into slow resolution. Now for the title track, “Reflections on a Moonlit Lake” (4:50) and a symphony begins, somehow rising ahead of the moon. From here the sky is huge above the water and I am sure that there is life out there, so much life hidden in the expanse above and below the water.

The first track began with the sound of water at the lake shore, now the closing track provides shallow waves, but first the rain, a little thunder and “Summer Night Rain” (7:59). This is the lake after the storm, a slowly emerging single tone spreads into a slow spectrum, the flute comes a little bit later, developing into a rich new spectrum of colors and sonic events that linger, though the dark ultimately survives everywhere. The old gigantic door now stands wide open, beckoning the constant listener to watch and see what comes next.

Reflections On A Moonlit Lake is available on Spotted Peccary Music. [Bandcamp | Site]