Periphery

Reviewed by Ben Wolfson

Warm, spacious ambient music, with some melodic elements occasionally entering. The focus, though, is definitely on the background. Very well done. This is the aural equivalent of taking a nap in a warm bed on a cold day. Wavery organic sounds predominate.
Best: 6, 7

1: Opens with chimes and atmospherics like Eno's "Deep Blue Day". Gradually spacious piano stabs enter and gain prominence, followed by rising warm tones. As new elements enter the old ones fade out.
2: Lower. What might be some drum brushwork enters about a third of the way through.
3: Higher. Perhaps a reed involved---there's just the littlest bit of buzz around the edges. There's a little keyboard movement, though not much, and in the middle the sound gets much fuller and deeper.
4: This one is somewhat darker, and rather Murcof-like. The tones are lower and slightly ominous, with what sounds like a bowed bass and some scuttling string scraping near the middle. Those elements also contribute something sort of like a melody, though it's fairly buried.
5: Very similar to 2, though without the brushwork and with some minimal, Pole-esque beats. This is the weakest track.
6: This is the strongest track. The sound is fullest---there's just the right edge of hazy feedback to the warm, welcoming tones employed. Flutters of similarly-treated sounds enter
7: Sort of like a cross between 1 and 2; similar brushwork to 2 but higher and warmer like 1.