Time to wrap yourself up in a warm ambient drone blanket courtesy of Christopher Hipgrave. This is Dan's 3rd album (is it OK if I call Christopher Hipgrave 'Dan'?) and here he continues his foray into all things ambient, drifty, click, crackly and droney. Most importantly this is one of the warmer enveloping ambient drone albums I've heard in a while and probably his best so far. The tones and drones suck you in to a warm reassuring utopian world where everything is fluffy and generally OK. A world where kittens are playing with balls of string on fluffy clouds while baby bunny rabbits are playing tiddlywinks with baby hedgehogs. Doesn't that sound better than a tory/ lib dem coalition? Hey look what you threw away.... Err... I've lost my thread now. I've heard this twice and in amidst the mountains of drone and ambience this stands out, so it's well worth checking out!
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Sound clips for Slow, With Pages Of Fluttering Interference by Christopher Hipgrave: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, Low Point, LP037, £8.19.
Description: Following on from releases on Home Normal and Under The Spire in 2009, ‘Slow, With Pages Of Fluttering Interference’ is the third album from UK composer and sound designer Christopher Hipgrave.
Over the course of 42 minutes, Hipgrave’s sound is one of gentle manipulation, shimmering melodies and an exquisite sense of indistinct fragility. Whilst multiple layers of texture and tone are the main focal point of this album, background hisses, pops and crackles can also be heard which all seem to emanate from some strange electronic machine.
It’s this attention to detail that provides ‘Slow…’ with such warmth and humanity, creating a perfect balance against the structure of the music. Each piece is formed using a bare minimum of sound sources, which are then explored in depth, allowing the tracks to breathe, morph or run until their natural conclusion, resulting in an album of sublime intricate beauty.
Floaty tracklisting:
1. Singularity 2. Everything Slowed 3. Brightening, Multiplying 4. Time And Distance 5. Often Into Dream 6. Shifting Uncertainties 7. Strange Attractor 8. Brushes And Settles 9. Heavy And Pulling You 10. Slow Time 11. Seas 12. Bright And Fluid As Mercury 13. Positive Feedback Escapes Equilibrium 14. Soft Static 15. Disturbing The Patterns 16. Go With The Loops 17. Orphan Drift
