MESSAGE TO BEARS

Message to Bears is multi-instrumentalist Jerome Alexander. He has recently released a new album, Folding Leaves, and it’s fucking great. It’s an album which has some great ambient beats to act as a foundation which allows the vocals and strings and samples and piano and xylophones and so forth, to soar.

I can’t recommend it enough. So what’s it about.

The loose theme of the album, to put it simply is sort of the idea of having a desire to run away/escape when all you needed was right where you are.

I did sense that element of travel/travelling on the album, so I asked him a question about where the most beautiful place he had visited was. (Though with such an intriguing answer I should have asked what the best thing about being at home was.)

Probably the Iguazu waterfalls in Brazil, absolutely incredible.

I’m gonna try and catch a live offering when it roles in to town because the sound is so intriguing. I asked what the live show will be like, that answer is below as is the album (The physical's a sellout). Enjoy.

The live show includes a small ensemble, it's quite different to the recorded material actually, less ambient and louder.

dying embers

By way on an apology I will put up a new track every day between now and Easter. Hopefully.

Bruised Skies - Embers

Advent day 5: Loscil

Carrying on from the Endless Falls album, Loscil continued to push ambient boundaries this year with the Coast/Range/Arc EP.

it's a sparse and haunting offering. Enjoy.

Loscil - Neve
 Loscil - Névé by MoLLy

BNRY

Bass driven. Slightly melodic. Repeated vocal chops.

This is how BNRY describes his music. Succinct I think you’ll agree. And certainly not something I’d disagree with.

What we have here is some very intelligent dance music, progressive even, but more on that later.

I got to asking what BNRY’s favourite nightclub was and it turns out to be Plastic People, and why?

It’s Dark.

Fair enough, and succinct again. BNRY is playing Binnacle, a festival featuring progressive (that word again) musicians. It starts on 15 October and is at the Old Blue Last, Shoreditch.

Here are a couple of my favourite tracks from BNRY.

 Crayola by BNRY 

 Gold Leaf by BNRY 

SIMA

Sima’s music can best be described as old world meets new. Old world, that comes in the shape of the classical composers who are clear influence. We’re talking, Part, Prokoviev, Bach. Stockhausen.

And the new comes in the form of the modern production techniques that are layered over the top of the piano foundations. And the end result is something which has the best of both; something which is a little haunting, a little catchy, but ultimately has been put together quite nicely.

The latest EP is called Texture, you  can listen to it below and purchase it from Bandcamp. Why Texture?

Well it’s a private study or experiment about texture in the musical context, and each track has a number of textures. 

HALLS

Halls is South Londoner Sam Howard and his music is a bit of treat; I’ve put his self titled EP on here for all to enjoy and got to asking him how he would describe his music. Here is what he said:


I guess I'd describe my sound as atmospheric and moody. The songs from the first two EPs were written as it was becoming winter, so I guess they reflect the sombre feelings people experience as it gets colder and darker. The new music I've been working on has a broader range of influences, such as choral and classical music, as well as different forms of electronic music.

There has to be a certain irony then that his music can produce such a warm feeling of contentment.  

Solace is the other EP from Halls and both of them are available from Bandcamp. In terms of what’s next from Halls, there is new material in the offing which promises to be “ very open and sad”.  I hope I bear up listening to it. 

UMBER

Umber’s music is a coalescence of so much of the music that I love, folk and drone and ambient beat making. The Morning Pass EP is well crafted, with not too much of one or the other.

So, I had to ask, how does one bring it all together?

Morning's Pass EP uses a lot of instruments. Most songs are based around a drone or a loop and then I begin to add other instruments such as a guitar then a banjo or a harmonium. I'll probably then layer up some more drones, add some effects into the mix and then I’ll have a song! Repeat this six times and I’ve got an EP!

And a very good EP at that. It’s available from his Bandcamp for internet prices.I was in the mood to ask questions, so I followed up with this one: do you make any other music?

I have this project where I record a song a week and it's more of a folk outlet for me. I'm using only acoustic instruments and sometimes a field recording of the birds outside my bedroom window. It's a lot of fun doing that because I limit myself to 3-4 hours on a Sunday to write and record a song.

You can follow Alex Steward's journey on his tumblr page.