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Aglaia — Inner Enchantments
(Projekt no#, 2024, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2024-04-24

Inner Enchantments Cover art

Inner Enchantments is Aglaia’s third release on Projekt in as many years, following Perrenial Source (2022) and Along the Vast Ancient River (2023), though these only account for a fraction of his sixty-plus full length releases since his start in 2003, most of which are self-released or on the Hic Sunt Leones label. So far, what Aglaia has released on Projekt has been download only, though somewhat curiously the seven tracks of Inner Enchantments are separated by four-second spacers titled “Disc 1” and “Disc 2,” which could neann that there is a contingency plan for a possible CD release at some point in the future. The music at hand, like most of Aglaia’s work that I’m familiar with, falls into the floating ambient genre, though it’s a lot more textural and mysterious than much of what passes for that these days, borne of synthesizers and keyboards, found sound samples and loops, strings, zither, bells, possibly guitars, otherworldly gentle percussive sounds, and an intense amount of studio processing to create immersive environments where a listener can get thoroughly lost. There is no real cadence per se, the sound just flows gently in and out of the listening chamber in a warm and natural way, with shimmering lights and shadows, bold and pastel colors, scintillating effusions and swirling gelatinous effects that reach deep into a starlit night sky, morphing gently as it goes forward. The first five pieces all exceed ten minutes with four crossing the fourteen minute mark and the sixth clocking in at nine, with the total of the first six clocking in excess of 78 minutes, plenty of free range for the mind to roam, patchworks of indescribable beauty. The final track “Earth and Moon” (all of so-called “Disc 2”) stretches out to a glorious 49 minutes. Is it possible to have too mich of a good thing? Inner Enchantments certainly tests those boundaries, though the more one listens to it, the deeper the immersion gets. Those who appreciate Alio Die, Lorenxo Montaná, Popol Vuh, and similar artists should find plenty to like with Aglaia.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Aglaia

More info
http://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/inner-enchantments

 

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