Glittering ripples and harmonic tones cascade like warm waterfalls into green and azure pools where the imagination can bathe in a setting evocative of natural wonder.
Far away from everything, adrift, untied by the lull of the tide
Everyone needs an ambient island to go to for a holiday in the sun. Willows8ng provides just that in this tranquil guitar-based refuge from the pressures of civilization. Glittering ripples and harmonic tones cascade like warm waterfalls into green and azure pools where the imagination can bathe in a setting evocative of natural wonder.
The first song is “Nature Bath” and recalls at once both the Japanese practice of forest bathing and the practice of sound baths. The music in this suite would be perfect to listen to as one sails to a forested island to prepare to bathe in the sounds of nature. A gentle murmur of water is heard throughout adding to the relaxing feeling of the plucked strings that flutter up and down on the second song “Sky Fades In.” If I could take my blood pressure just now, I feel like it would be better than normal while listening to this piece. Music is medicine, and songs like the ones here are tonics for finding a harmonic center.
It’s not just the water that is present in these songs, but the wind, which blows in on “Altar Point.” It’s a slow wind, a breeze that pans through the stereo, a ripple in the leaves of the tall trees on this island forest that mirrors the ripples in the streams. This could be considered a kind of shoegaze music, but my shoes are off, I’m in a hammock and all I have to stare at are the swaying branches above, and maybe my bare feet and the warmth of the sun.
“Waves Reflecting” finishes off this little set of four sonic miniatures, the last three of which are extended excursions to get you fully into the zone. What sounds like the low wash of the ocean as tides spill across the sand form the field-recorded beach of the final track, as incandescent guitar tones hover over top like seagulls in a liquid dance. By the time the last notes from these sound waves reflect off each other, I am far away from the hustle of city life, far away from everything, adrift, untied by the lull of the tide.
Ambient Island is available on Imaginary North. [Bandcamp]
