No, it hasn't been that long since his previous double album "Chromophobia" came out not even four months ago. But that's the notoriously prolific Ivan The Tolerable for you!
So his new work, released today, is business as usual? I don't know, because that last album is quite a masterpiece and set the bar pretty high, especially considering that its successor (if we only count releases on Riot Season Records at least) is yet another whopper of eighty minutes, created without a band entirely solo by Oli Heffernan himself.
So his new work, released today, is business as usual? I don't know, because that last album is quite a masterpiece and set the bar pretty high, especially considering that its successor (if we only count releases on Riot Season Records at least) is yet another whopper of eighty minutes, created without a band entirely solo by Oli Heffernan himself.
IVAN THE TOLERABLE - Psychogeography (Cream/Black Marble vinyl 2LP) (2026)
To exactly noone's surprise Heffernan of course foregoes the risk of competing with himself by shifting gears enough to make "Psychogeography" its own not directly comparable entity, while not only through the music, but also the design it still feels like kind of a spiritual companion to "Chromophobia".
With a constant backdrop of chirping birds and other nature sounds this album feels like a long bath inside a giant singing bowl, in a spa in a secret valley, beside the rippling waves emerging from a waterfall.
Albeit there are some tracks containing edgier stirring elements like the eery atmosphere of "The Destroying Fire", the sharp synths in "The First Bardo" or the dominant Drone under "For Grace", most of this smoothly floating album sees Ivan The Ambient go full Zen.
With very few actual beats or minimalist rhythmic bass lines it's mostly a fluid organic pulse which carries his soundscapes of electro-acoustic textures, tape loops and hypnotic melodies - and us with them - through this hazy yet lucid New Age of Psychedelic rapture.
It's by far not the first album fully devoting itself to this kind of idea, and it also wouldn't be the first one to fail by drowning in kitsch. "Psychogeography" however luckily doesn't belong to that group of Ambient releases at all. Heffernan's sounds are all too tasteful for that. They feel honest - of spiritual origin, but brought into an almost tangible earthly form, emanating cosmic light with human warmth.
So while conceptually this might be a very simple album, it can safely rely on its just extremely successful execution. Deeply beautiful material - and the music being pressed on that nice marble vinyl doesn't hurt either.
With a constant backdrop of chirping birds and other nature sounds this album feels like a long bath inside a giant singing bowl, in a spa in a secret valley, beside the rippling waves emerging from a waterfall.
Albeit there are some tracks containing edgier stirring elements like the eery atmosphere of "The Destroying Fire", the sharp synths in "The First Bardo" or the dominant Drone under "For Grace", most of this smoothly floating album sees Ivan The Ambient go full Zen.
With very few actual beats or minimalist rhythmic bass lines it's mostly a fluid organic pulse which carries his soundscapes of electro-acoustic textures, tape loops and hypnotic melodies - and us with them - through this hazy yet lucid New Age of Psychedelic rapture.
It's by far not the first album fully devoting itself to this kind of idea, and it also wouldn't be the first one to fail by drowning in kitsch. "Psychogeography" however luckily doesn't belong to that group of Ambient releases at all. Heffernan's sounds are all too tasteful for that. They feel honest - of spiritual origin, but brought into an almost tangible earthly form, emanating cosmic light with human warmth.
So while conceptually this might be a very simple album, it can safely rely on its just extremely successful execution. Deeply beautiful material - and the music being pressed on that nice marble vinyl doesn't hurt either.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen