UMP30004 auspice – Ars Longa, Vita Brevis [2009]
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis is the first EP from nascent artist auspice. Each of the four tracks presented here were composed as a simple meditation on a subtle emotion, allowing the listener time and space to slowly gravitate towards the psychological state of the musician.
The landscapes visited here might not be the euphoric planes of conventional dance music nor the lush gardens you might visit in a conventional ambient piece, but rather four varying states of calm, tinged with elements of unease and tension.
You are invited to join the musician in studying their own internal feelings and to observe how your perception is altered by your own environment.
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UMP30003 Charles Matthews – Back In [2004]
Back In is a cerebral study. Every sound is given time to emerge from silence, distort and rotate, to echo and decay. The subtle background hum merely fixes the tones as they slowly parade their individual beauty and nuances.
Sometimes abrupt, almost shrill, the tones demand attention before vibrating and fading back into the murky distance. Individual notes twist and gyrate, presented in isolation, in detail, in exquisite wholeness.
Rarely restful, frequently provocative, the atmosphere evokes unnatural landscapes, alien and angular movements- the strange flickers at the edge of vision or the creation of rarely seen shades of colour. The uniqueness of each note, every tone, is exposed and catalogued- the nuanced crescendo as it approaches before a retreat.
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