Sun Rain :: Mea Culpa EP (Imaginary North)

Gentle layers of just a few ingredients are added to other related elements, augmenting each other to showcase a natural magic. These are dreamscapes for rest and recuperation, and I don’t see any error or wrongdoing in them at all.

Slow moving and textural cloths of woven sound

Imaginary North end their 2024 run of releases with a sweet EP perfect for going into hibernation mode after the hustle and bustle of year end festivities. It also might be useful if you just want to hibernate and hide from the chaos of the world in general. These lightly bristling pieces are like a woolen blanket to pull over oneself in the winter months. Bundle up in your nest or cave and dream on with this is as your soundtrack.

Sun Rain is the project of Chad Skinner whose Half Moon Audio studio is responsible for the mastering work of a number of Imaginary North releases as well as some recording sessions and other collaborative work. Getting the feel of this EP into my head, I can see why Imaginary North and Skinner can work so well together.

Distinctions start to emerge ::

These five short pieces really do the trick of helping the listener turn off the everyday trivial mind. I’ve been a fan of ambient sounds and drone for quite awhile, and one would imagine that after listening to this kind of stuff day in and day out, hour after hour, that these slow moving and textural cloths of woven sound would all start to sound the same after awhile. That’s really not the case. As with any genre, distinctions start to emerge. In this case it’s in the way Sun Rain finds patterns and shapes formless expanses of sustained sound into sonorous warmth breaks up the ice into seamless flows.  

Gentle layers of just a few ingredients are added to other related elements, augmenting each other to showcase a natural magic. These are dreamscapes for rest and recuperation, and I don’t see any error or wrongdoing in them at all.

Mea Culpa is available on Imaginary North. [Bandcamp]