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Steve Roberts, one of Ambient Music's most thoughtful practitioners, acting under the sobriquet Amongst Myselves seems always to be pointing to endless future possibilities. On An Abandoned Day (54'35") we are left to wonder if any of them could possibly hold a place for humanity? Spin any of his previous eight discs and you will drift into a rich realm of musical wonderment. All certainly worth revisiting for their vivid atmospheres and textural brocade, his ninth release reasserts these qualities beneath an overarching air of prophesy. Playing with spirit, searching and personal strength Roberts offers eight tracks that move with the night. Much like dreams, so vulnerable to daylight, his work on An Abandoned Day expresses the transient, fragile qualities of our planet. Precise like a prayer, then plunging into the twilight sonic territory of the transcendental, we wander through these beautiful spaces as within the uncertainty of a dream. Pulled through the shadows with only a swirl of moonlight to illuminate our surroundings a remarkable range of emotion and drama are generated from deceptively simple forms. Reverberant guitar plucks glimmer above some new no-space as the subtle tone withdrawals through shivering chill currents. With its field recordings, sampled female voice, and luxurious swaths of whirring, murmuring synths these potent realizations resonate with, then haunt the listener. Losing ourselves in the softly bracing sound fields and designs presented throughout An Abandoned Day we travel from brood moods of liminality and ambiguity to harmonious accord, and finally an unexpected tenderness. Amongst Myselves consistently provides music that is always alive, always developing. Even as a gathering darkness rumbles in the distance this artist is not hindered in his mission to express the inexpressible qualities of the human condition - to our very last, simplest, loveliest, most quietly shattering moment.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 14 December 2023 |
