The delicate touch is omnipresent in his work, especially in the use of chimes and glockenspiel, but also with sound effects, such as a bit of delay here and there.
Mellow music for mellow people
I reviewed music by Wil Bolton over the years, even when the last time was some time ago (Vital Weekly 1202). I am sure I missed a few of his releases over the years. On his new release, he uses “modular synthesizers, Mellotron, Yamaha PSR-6, Waldorf Micro Q, Modal Argon8, OP-1, iPhone, glockenspiel, chimes, effects and field recordings from Venice, Stockholm, New York and Tokyo.” Over the years, there has been little change in his music. The delicate touch is omnipresent in his work, especially in the use of chimes and glockenspiel, but also with sound effects, such as a bit of delay here and there.
The music shifts freely, like chimes in the wind and field recordings dropping in and out. Mellow music for mellow people, I should think. I had this release on repeat for quite some time, doing some other stuff, and my attention floated in and out of the music here. I am not saying that is a good thing, but just one of those things that happens. When I looked up some older reviews of Bolton’s work, it seemed I had done this before. So much like there is not a lot of change for Bolton and how he approaches his music, it seems to have that repeated listening effect on me. In Bolton’s defense, and things being the same, the last work of his I heard I found at times suspiciously close to the world of the new age, but luckily this time, that is not the case. Bolton’s music is bumpier than before, making it all the more interesting.
Review by: Frans de Waard / Vital Weekly #1380. Reprinted with permission.
Wil Bolton is a London-based artist whose work uses synthesizers, guitars, acoustic instruments and effects to create warm and emotive melodies, fragmented and submerged among beds of droning ambient textures and environmental sounds. ~Bandcamp
Like Floating Leaves is available on laaps. [Bandcamp]
