Ambient: The Experiment Of The Sublime And Formidable

 

    With much linguistic liberty, the birth of ambient music is distinguished by two moments in time. Long before the conceptualization of a new genre, something refined and pure was in the making. The early and mid 70s saw edged crowds discharge their pent up frustrations alongside a fresh and careless new wave of rock music that ravaged the decade by desecrating any notion of being nonchalant. As it came to be known, punk rock disregarded subtle composition and purposefully invaded personal space with its simple song structure, short yet sharp jolts of energy and ludicrous political mission statements. This left a vacancy for profound musical expression.

 

    The alternative soon presented itself. As longer instrumental compositions began appealing to larger audiences, artists turned to drawing from their surroundings for inspiration. Traces of a new genre, ambient, were slowly being unraveled and inanimate objects, along with concepts were utilized to build foundations for extensive works of art favouring sustained sounds and a seeming lack of punch. The antithesis was painfully clear, ambient had no destination, it simply hung in the background with ambiguous room for conclusion.

 

    The breakthrough of the ambient experiment was the introduction of the synthesizer, liberating musicians from certain artistic obstructions, in turn allowing the genre to venture into uncharted sonic territories. Glimmering layers of spacey electronica spliced with creatively minimal keyboard notes fashioned an aura of meditation that is frequently attributed to ambient as the sound of relaxation. Retaining core elements, the development of ambient morphed into the experimental, involving aspects of glitch, cuts and clicks, drone and many more. 

 

This New Age music or “Muzak”, as it was sometimes referred to, could not be consumed momentarily and offered a fresh listening experience, one of extensive focus, attention and, quite interestingly, willful ignoration. As a genre, ambient did not cut off its listeners from daydreaming and getting lost in one’s thoughts, in fact it encouraged it, as long as the return was as uncomplicated as the departure itself. 

    

With the introduction of the 1978 record “Ambient 1: Music For Airports”, British composer Brian Eno truly solidified the idea that background music could be as dull as it was fascinating. Set on composing a soundtrack for the public spaces of an airport, Eno introduced the world to the key-word “ambience”. The detached and almost deceitfully lethargic nature of “Ambient 1’’ finally conceptualized this new genre and offered an alternative, instead of experiencing the environment, becoming part of it. 

 

Burial - Untrue (2007)

As an experience, Burial’s Untrue is a masterclass at encapsulating the aura and sensation of roaming London’s urban maze during the late hours of the day. Though not an ambient album in the traditional sense, Untrue meshes post-dubstep with elements of techno and surrounds the resulting mix with deep, icy reverb. Every thump and kick of the beat, in turn, engulfed in cold night air, followed by the chilly mist that precedes the crack of dawn. Untrue is certainly a wonderful introduction to the ambient genre, not forcing the listener to delve deep into the intricacies of the genre, sparingly utilizing subtle ambient cues and most importantly, maintaining the security of melodic loops, catchy beats and sweet pop samples that are sure to drift the experience back from boredom should the atmosphere become overbearing. 

 

Fennesz - Venice (2004)

Blending layers of stunning electronica with masterful guitar elements, Fennesz has discovered an unlikely synergy between forcing jarring elements into pleasant landscapes full of rich textures and bold experimentation. Drone, ambient and, surprisingly, glitch find their place on the Austrian’s self-titled project. Evoking a sense of comfort, belonging and radiating beauty, Venice is the ugly duckling story of atmospheric recordings. As compared to the other records on the list, making a surprising use of glitch, Venice bends its rigid and conflicting nature like an untamed beast and calms it to sleep on a soothing meadow of silky electronica. 

Hardly one dimensional, its subversion is puzzling to put into frame, evoking, at times, sensations of a faulty radio transmission, sounds of moths twitching and beating themselves to death against street lamps, during others. Fennesz’s artistry unfolds in contrasting the sublime with the uncomfortable and creating gentleness.

 

Tim Hecker - Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again (2001)

Tim Hecker’s poignant release Haunt Me leans heavily on the sustained beauty of drone. The icy chambers of minimalist electronica that Hecker introduces feel daunting and weigh heavy on the shoulders of the one experiencing them. Though sparkles and glimmers of light peek their heads out occasionally, Haunt Me is a dark and asocial listen. Relating to the album’s tracks that reference freezing biomes, alienated northern regions and a seeming lack of human connection, Hecker brings forth a modern take on ambient by submerging the listener into a deep, thudding atmosphere. 

 

Tracks such as “The Work Of Art In The Age Of Cultural Overproduction” even take a note straight out of space horror, dropping its spectators into vast hopelessness and seeming lack of palpable objects. Every reprieve is a solace to the suffocating ambience, every conclusion of every movement based track is an extreme culmination. 

 

  

The KLF - Chill Out (1990)

KLF’s Chill Out is as much an ambient album as it is a concept art piece of a post-rave train journey down the British countryside filled with memorable pop media samples, a reverb heavy, stripped down version of Elvis’ “In The Ghetto”, Mongolian throat singing, sounds of echoey bleating sheep, barking dogs and a melancholic public radio transmission of a 17 year old bike rider whose traffic accident still warrants pilgrimage trips from obsessed fans to the cafe near his crash site. Guided by soothing guitar passages, recurrent sonic elements that loop in and out at different points of the record, Chill Out’s feeling is one of dozing off after an intense night and experiencing pieces of information that the listener’s brain picks up on selectively. Both a wonderful listen and a sensation, created inspired by a unique concept.