Distances

A collaboration between Ultimae heavyweights Aes Dana and Solar Fields is bound to cause something of a stir in chill circles; and Distances is an impressive, experimental bit of introspective ambient. Opening with the title track’s sparse but mesmerising melodic workout, into Access To The Long Fields, with tiptop production and sustained, subtle movement. It’s already apparent that we’re more on the side of “proper” ambient here, rather than more run of the mill downtempo “psy” chill, and when Rain Geometries comes in with a darker, more menacing sound that’s almost Tangerine Dream you’re almost wondering whether this is a krautrock tribute record. Symetric Lifes picks up disorted beats and moodiness, which subsides into a breathe-in-breathe-out melody and eventually, when a lazy slomo 4-4 drops, it works a resounding treat; likewise Indigo Room, somehow managing to stay organic despite being awash with binary and anlogue squelch. Time Circles is an almost beatless epic, with sounds rising and falling over time; possibly a little too introspective but at the right time, it’d sound perfect. Similarly on the tribal ambient Moon Town, Morning Call and Sunday Barbecue With The Neighbours; proper ambient all the way my son. Hugely worthy of note however, and one that sticks out like a glorious sore thumb, is Overload (Putput mix) — a wonderful, defiant ten and a half minutes of 120-ish BPM trance that has all the energy and emotion of those old Platipus / R&S releases; utterly gorgeous, utterly surprising, utterly re-listenable. All in all this is a fascinating album, with moments of extreme brilliance but it’s unlikely to grab the attention of most chillout fans and DJs. If you want clever, go for this — but be prepared to leave your nag champa and hemp rolling papers at home.