Music For Sleep | Waterforms
Shimmering Moods Records (CD/DL)
Music For Sleep is the ambient project of Andrea Porcu, a Sardinian artist now based in Berlin. His previous work has been mostly self-released, but he now finds the perfect home for his dreamlike compositions on the ever-reliable Shimmering Moods label.
Ambient music sometimes skirts with clichés, for example the dangerously New Agey whale song. The sound of water could possibly fall into this trap, but on Waterforms the listener is plunged deep into an hour long composition that uses it as texture, the music matching the ebb and flow of the water recordings. This longform piece explores the different moods conjured by varying water sources. After a mellow twenty minutes of melodic loops and gentle splashes, things become darker and more claustrophobic. It’s as if the listener is being submerged and immersed in a flood of drones that become thicker and more inescapable as the track progresses. Other found sounds float to the surface like bubbles and at the midway point the frequencies lighten to reveal delicate tones.
A persistent tone repeats throughout the entire piece, guiding the listener into the depths and steering the way. The final part of the journey is illuminated by warmer bass notes, keeping us afloat until the end. Composed to be enjoyed both through headphones or speakers, Waterforms is a sound bath that rewards patient listening.
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