Elegant and sensitive: on his second album, Swedish producer Velv.93 interweaves established ambient traditions with harmonic Coil-like drama, subtle club nuances and playful melodic contours. Maidstone is a dreamlike record that recalls the ambient of the 1990s and 2000s, evoking artists such as Biosphere, Pete Namlook, Markus Guentner or Marsen Jules. Compared to his first long-player Vollsma and his most recent EPs, which each featured more club-oriented tracks, his debut for the Belgian label Stroom is almost entirely devoid of rhythm.
Delicately balanced layers of sound revolve around understated dub chords, minimal piano motifs or gently overdriven drone textures – all handled with stylistic poise. Only in brief passages do faintly disquieting tones surface, only to dissolve quickly into a state of complete suppleness. Charming synth timbres, library-like melodies, digitally inflected choral vocals, mild traces of acid and organ timbres reminiscent of Kali Malone: Maidstone offers a wealth of associations while retaining its own identity within a continuous flow of ambient energy.
Maidstone
