Thursday 17 March 2011

Halls - Solace

In a time pressured world there’s a danger that the work of ambient and ghost-electronica minimalist Sam Howard aka Halls could pass by unnoticed, lost to a planet so caught up in itself it has no time to breathe. This would be a huge pity because these four minute artworks deserve all the time you have. Loop them over and over and listen to the soft crackling fuzz of sounds that intertwine throughout the three tracks on his new Solace EP (available to purchase from his website here) and find yourself taken somewhere else.

Following a lineage that includes Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, The Orb and Burial, Halls are creating something druggy, unfussy and free from the everyday clutter of life. Ambient music has sometimes been described as anti-music, often created for background atmosphere to another activity, but this is not the case here. Like diving into the deep ocean and never coming up again, this is music that requires you to utterly immerse yourself in its spacious quality.

Streaming below is the lead track from the EP, plus one of the b-sides Colossus. Halls plays a debut live show at the Lock Tavern in Camden on March 27.

Halls - Solace

Halls - Colossus

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