May’s Top 10

Apologies for posting this months top 10 a little late. Below you can find our current fav releases that are doing the rounds on the Fluid playlists and come highly recommended…

1. Olan Mill – Pine

Listening to “Pine,” the second release from record label Serein, and the debut recording from Olan Mill, it is clear the group’s two collaborators are appreciators of these sounds. For while this compact, concise group of recordings are created from a palette of instruments and not from field recordings so usually associated with ambient music, such is the dream like, slow motion quality of the sounds at work that one could easily forget they are listening to a record, as the notes seamlessly form part of their natural surroundings. Full info

2. Svarte Greiner – Penpals Forever (And Ever)

A1, the record’s opening track commences with the light plucking of guitar, which when joined by a more devious sounding electric guitar reminds me of the opening of David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” where a camera moves from a serene suburban garden deep into the soil beneath it. Once the more ominous sounds are established, there is no reproach, and the first 11 minutes of this record also houses a background of industrial-like noises, which create an eerie sound, almost like screaming. Full info

3. Talvihorros – Music In Four Movements

Recent examples of creative takes on self-immolation have included Gus Van Sant’s movie “Last Days,” which through a slow paced narrative recreated the final moments of a musician made to resemble Kurt Cobain. Last year in the literary world readers were treated to the excellent debut novel from David Vann entitled “Legend of a Suicide” which contained a selection of fictional short stories all of which housed reflections on the suicide of the writer’s father. Now, from a musical perspective comes “Music In Four Movements” by Talvihorros, a four track album representing the final four days of an individual set on ending their own life. Full info

4. Richard A Ingram – Consolamentum

White Box Recordings have so far proven that they are a label to be reckoned with. Previous offerings from the likes of Danny Saul and Liondialer demonstrate that these guys mean business and the next project from Richard A Ingram confirms this as he presents a stunning collection of expressive compositions. Full info

5. Laura Gibson and Ethan Rose – Bridge Carols

Bridge Carols takes the listener to a place that exists between the notes and behind the words of modern music. This breaking down and rebuilding, cutting down to the core and polishing, results in something truer and more fundamental. It’s music that feels intimately familiar, timeless; at its heart, quite natural and human. Full info

6. Horse Feathers – Thistled Spring

From the first piano notes of the title track, Thistled Spring shows itself to be an album of rebirth, renewal, and fragile hope. The sun is out in the world evoked by this music, and in the first couple of songs it feels like the sun of early spring, glinting on a frosty river where the ice is just breaking up. “Thistled Spring” and “Starving Robins” both continue Ringle’s trademark use of space in songwriting, but in this case the space is full of potential, like the spaces between drops of melting snow. Full info

7. Sunslide – Field Piano

Squelching of boots walking the flooded fields, the rattle of a gate and then the piano. These nocturnes bring an impression of the landscape in keeping with Satie and Poulenc; where the music is found between the silence and the hammer on the string. Full info

8. Bobby and Blumm – A Little Big

Nothing forces itself on You, no babbling, no twaddle. B&B only use the notes, that they consider really necessary. Their songs are in focus. They are refined. They have a superb feeling for time. Duets and dialogues are engaged in close arrangements. A slight rise of the eye-brow and the next harmony appears just like that. Fine-felt sounds, for the love of music. And the more You listen to this album the more beautiful it becomes, the deeper it roots. Full info

9. Films – Messenger

Film’s first celebratory album titled, “Messenger” is based on an imaginary fable. The album brings classical instruments such as piano, violin, viola, and cello, an ensemble of instruments that provokes images of solemn church music and layers this with a touch of electronic sound, and a silky veil of a woman’s voice ringing from far in the distance beyond the fog and together, turns the entire album into one deep fairy tale. Full info

10 . Greg Davis – Regarding Wave

Musically this album has a shimmering brightness about it, almost like an auditory hall of mirrors where the smallest chime echoes and repeats kaleidoscopically forever. Over the course of three tracks, Greg produces moments of rippling beauty via polite tonal drones that evolve at glacial speed. Full of harmony and accessibility, Regarding Wave is not only a welcome addition to Greg’s diverse oeuvre, but also a worthy introduction to his music for newcomers. Full info