textura

James Murray: Soundflowers
Slowcraft

Instrumental music's ineffable capacity for expressing emotion using abstract means is effectively illustrated by James Murray's Soundflowers. What makes the recording an especially fascinating example of that capacity is that the UK ambient artist adopted a generative compositional approach involving the Torso T-1 algorithmic sequencer (among the other gear deployed, ARP Odyssey, Haken ContinuuMini, and ASM Hydrasynth are listed). If such technology is capable of assisting an artist in producing material as terrific as Soundflowers, it's reasonable to expect others will follow Murray's lead in short order. Don't get the wrong idea, however: the creative process has been abetted by the technology, not ceded to it. Murray's hand is still the controlling one, and his artistic sensibility marks every moment of the material.

Thematically, while track titles such as “Open Heart" and “Post Script (I Love You)” might suggest Murray conceived the project as a love letter to a particular romantic partner, text accompanying the release characterizes Soundflowers as “a machine-penned love letter to nature in all its beautifully thorny forms,” which lends a different meaning to the title “Forget Me Not” than it might otherwise have. Like natural forms, the six tracks blossom from humble origins into glorious, fully formed shapes.

“Open Heart” introduces the recording with gentle ripples suggestive of burning embers while warbling and high-pitched tones fill out the multi-hued sound painting. The track's meditative character and gradual intensification orient the listener to what to expect from the forty-two-minute release. The hushed shimmer of “No More Roses” perpetuates the pastoral dimension of the opener, the sounds this time evoking the uplift that exposure to an early spring morning brings with it when everything's covered in dew and wrapped in mist. “Meadowsweet” twinkles and sparkles like sunlight glimmering through the trees before transforming into a blazing panorama of synthesizer-charged grandeur; slightly calmer though no less wide-eyed is “Forget Me Not,” which exudes an affecting wistfulness in its hushed percolations. At album's end, “Post Script (I Love You)” reinstates the slow-burning strategy deployed elsewhere but does so here in particularly epic manner when its incremental climb eventually culminates in a majestic crescendo.

Soundflowers is one of those recordings that should be played at top volume in order for its textural richness to be truly appreciated and for the music's impact to fully register. The photographs by Grant Gard (aka Landtitles) that adorn the six-panel insert are well-chosen for visually mirroring the natural warmth of Murray's productions. He's issued albums for many years, but Soundflowers, which captures an ambient artist operating in full control of his abilities, is up there with the best of them.

April 2023


	James Murray: Soundflowers Slowcraft Instrumental music's ineffable capacity for expressing emotion using abstract means is effectively illustrated by James Murray's Soundflowers. What makes the recording an especially fascinating example of that capacity is that the UK ambient artist adopted a generative compositional approach involving the Torso T-1 algorithmic sequencer (among the other gear deployed, ARP Odyssey, Haken ContinuuMini, and ASM Hydrasynth are listed). If such technology is capable of assisting an artist in producing material as terrific as Soundflowers, it's reasonable to expect others will follow Murray's lead in short order. Don't get the wrong idea, however: the creative process has been abetted by the technology, not ceded to it. Murray's hand is still the controlling one, and his artistic sensibility marks every moment of the material. Thematically, while track titles such as “Open Heart" and “Post Script (I Love You)” might suggest Murray conceived the project as a love letter to a particular romantic partner, text accompanying the release characterizes Soundflowers as “a machine-penned love letter to nature in all its beautifully thorny forms,” which lends a different meaning to the title “Forget Me Not” than it might otherwise have. Like natural forms, the six tracks blossom from humble origins into glorious, fully formed shapes. “Open Heart” introduces the recording with gentle ripples suggestive of burning embers while warbling and high-pitched tones fill out the multi-hued sound painting. The track's meditative character and gradual intensification orient the listener to what to expect from the forty-two-minute release. The hushed shimmer of “No More Roses” perpetuates the pastoral dimension of the opener, the sounds this time evoking the uplift that exposure to an early spring morning brings with it when everything's covered in dew and wrapped in mist. “Meadowsweet” twinkles and sparkles like sunlight glimmering through the trees before transforming into a blazing panorama of synthesizer-charged grandeur; slightly calmer though no less wide-eyed is “Forget Me Not,” which exudes an affecting wistfulness in its hushed percolations. At album's end, “Post Script (I Love You)” reinstates the slow-burning strategy deployed elsewhere but does so here in particularly epic manner when its incremental climb eventually culminates in a majestic crescendo. Soundflowers is one of those recordings that should be played at top volume in order for its textural richness to be truly appreciated and for the music's impact to fully register. The photographs by Grant Gard (aka Landtitles) that adorn the six-panel insert are well-chosen for visually mirroring the natural warmth of Murray's productions. He's issued albums for many years, but Soundflowers, which captures an ambient artist operating in full control of his abilities, is up there with the best of them. April 2023