kyle landstra ~ bloom lake

kyle landstra ~ bloom lake (unifactor tapes, 2019)

Migrating to the Pacific Northwest after years in Chicago brought new light to Kyle Landstra's crystalline sounds. Bloom Lake represents some of the first deeply devised sounds made by Landstra in his new environment, and while it's not a dramatic reaction to some conceptually new life, you can't help but hear some clouds clearing all the same. Recorded in real time, these two side-long pieces slowly braid strands of reflection and acceptance. Drifting but bright, "Love In A Mist" stirs with a kind of restrained excitement that comes at the beginning of promising times. The title track communicates a darker side of the same excitement, but in a way that again suggests understanding more than fear, growth more than foreboding ~ unifactor tapes

It's nice to see that some of the names that have been beloved in the wake of the cassette revival, like 7 or even 10 years ago, are still active. Kyle is a real magician when it comes to making music on vintage analog monsters. There is always a certain balance between his drone, ambient textures, and sequences in his music, and there is always some kind of pacifying frequency or some secret modulation which makes you immediately want to sit back, take a deep breath and close your eyes, just not thinking about anything... Trite maybe? Yes – and isn't that can be said about most of the music on this blog? That's definitely true, but at the same time, it's about many other things! All shades of feelings and impressions can be coded in the simplest vibrations of sine waves, what to speak of a rich synth sounds then! And when there's a very gifted practitioner behind them. Perhaps this album is just another reference point in that endless ocean of sound, plunging into which at some point you can completely forget that it can also be considered music, even recorded, also published, even on cassettes... Yet, even considering its transience this albums manages to create a portal that offers a view of the amazing dimensions of total serenity and bliss. 

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