Flying Saucer Attack – Instrumentals 2015

It's hard to know what to say about this new album by Flying Saucer Attack. I first heard FSA at uni in the mid to late '90s, and they had a vague and faintly cosmic mystique unique to pre-internet bands. All you had to go on might be the album cover and a review in the NME or a mention by John Peel. Back then, FSA were a duo (David Pearce and Rachel Brook) who stirred faint beats and vocals into their mix of atmospheric languor and MBV-esque guitar-storms. Instrumentals 2015, the first FSA album in 15 years, is just Pearce, his guitar and effects.

I don't know if these pieces have been tinkered with over the years or if they were all recorded recently. The title would suggest the latter. But it doesn't really matter either way. The context is fairly meaningless. All there is is the music. And it has the same vague and faintly cosmic mystique as it had in the mid to late '90s.

There's certainly no lack of this kind of guitar-driven ambient music around. Chuck a rock and you're bound to hit someone who plays the guitar through a string of effects pedals. However, it's rare to find someone who plays the guitar in such a beguiling way. Pearce isn't reinventing the wheel, but he does create a yearning, melancholic atmosphere akin to Windy & Carl at their most minimal and forlorn.

Describing how each of these 15 pieces sound is beside the point, really; they begin and end as though they're drifting in and out of the room, making sure they colour the air without drawing too much attention to themselves. Pearce's sound is purposefully hesitant and ambiguous. Whether the individual pieces fade out after a couple of minutes or stretch on for six, seven, ten minutes, there's the sense that in leaving the music sounding unfinished, Pearce has expanded the music's horizons, leaving it open to interpretation.

Repeat listens to this album bring fresh perspectives on the music, but no definitive answers. In that regard, Instrumentals 2015 feels so open-ended that what you take away from it largely depends on what you bring to it. I started with faint fond memories of their self-titled debut album. I walk away with a nagging sensation that there's something there worth unearthing, just beyond my grasp. So I keep coming back to explore.        

Hidden Shoal atmospheric/ambient compilation

Just a reminder that I've compiled a ten-track compilation of atmospheric/ambient stuff from the Hidden Shoal roster that's available for licensing via dots and loops. It begins with the haunting wash of Stray Ghost's 'Nothing, But Death Part 1' and concludes with acclaimed producer Scott Solter's 'The Palace Wedding', visiting Antonymes, My Majestic Star, Sleeping Me, Rich Bennett, Slow Dancing Society, Elisa Luu, Wes Willenbring and Jumpel along the way. Plenty of delicious atmospheres to immerse yourself in.

Check out the comp on Soundcloud:


If you're interested in licensing the music of any of these artists for use in your creative project, please contact tim@dots-and-loops.com

Hidden Shoal artist profile: Elisa Luu

Elisa Luu

Rome-based electronica artist Elisa Luu has an enviably light and precise touch. Though digitally crafted, her music is warm, inviting and uniquely human, betraying a vulnerability and sensitivity that is rarely found in the male-dominated sphere of electronica. With its sighing, lilting qualities, Elisa Luu’s music reawakens a sense of childlike wonder and adventure with every sprawling and sparkling track. It is ideally suited to visuals that portray moments of contemplation, transformation and redemption.

'Slow Bass Flute', taken from Elisa Luu's stunning debut album Chromatic Sigh, is part of my compilation of atmospheric/ambient tracks from the Hidden Shoal catalogue on Soundcloud:



Similarly dreamy is 'R3Son8':



Both these tracks are beatless, but when Elisa integrates electronic rhythms into her compositions, such as on 'Pixie Space Rock' and the following track 'Slowbeat', the results are equally beautiful:



Elisa Luu's new album will be released on Hidden Shoal later in the year, preceded by the single 'Se Fosse Per Me'.

If you're interested in licensing Elisa Luu's music for your creative project, please contact tim@dots-and-loops.com

Hidden Shoal artist profile: Wes Willenbring

Wes Willenbring

My initial intention was to run through the Hidden Shoal catalogue alphabetically, but a new single by Wes Willenbring has just been released, so I'm jumping ahead. Wes creates the kind of immersive, atmospheric music that bleeds masterfully between moments of sweet repose and queasy melancholy. The closer attention you pay to it, the more layers of meaning it reveals. As such, I can imagine his music providing the perfect soundtrack to slow-moving, reflective visuals.

Wes’s songs revolve around the primary elements of guitar and piano, the sounds expertly disassembled, reconstructed and manipulated to create minimalist atmospheres that draw equally from the sounds and moods of Leonard Cohen, Erik Satie, Earth, Brian Eno, Coil, and others. Across three albums, his attention has shifted gradually from more focus upon piano on his debut album Somewhere Someone Else through more varied pieces on his second album Close, But Not Too Close, to longform works on his forthcoming third album Weapons Reference Manual, which features new single 'The Consequences of Reckless':



I've included 'The Burrow' from Close, But Not Too Close on my compilation of atmospheric/ambient tracks from the Hidden Shoal catalogue featured on Soundcloud:



Plus, you can follow Wes on Soundcloud to sample tracks from across his excellent discography:



If you're interested in licensing Wes Willenbring's music for your creative project, please contact tim@dots-and-loops.com