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Rudy Adrian — Beyond the Sleepy Hills
(Spotted Peccary SPM-2607, 2024, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2024-12-03

Beyond the Sleepy Hills Cover art

It seems like just a few weeks ago I was reviewing Adrian’s previous Spotted Peccary release Reflections on a Moonlit Lake; truth be told it was actually a few months ago, but It’s hard to imagine how an artist can crank out music of this caliber in such short order, but he does. The key to understanding this latest effort is hidden in its title: Sleepy, though as atmospheric, gentle, relaxing, and warm as these nine tracks are, they probably won’t send the listener off to slumberland — I’ve never had great luck falling asleep and remaining asleep to any instrumental music that features piano, regardless of how many layers of soft floating synthesizers are there to accompany it, and in this case there are many, but its gentle nature and soft details will go far to put the listener in a relaxed state that prepares the listener for the plunge into subconscious worlds. In addition to synths and piano, the pieces here feature bells, gongs, drones, subtle field recordings, and a lot of shimmer and other qualities that give pleasure to the senses. The  track titles are simply “The Sleepy Hills 1” through “The Sleepy Hills 9,” so from this point forward I’ll just refer to them by their number, and “4” is where I will start, a deep cavernous world unto its own where swirling textures flow with gentle ease, and soft bells ring out understated melodies over the sounds of an intermittent babbling stream, infused with synthesizers for a truly stunning effect, stretching out over its nine-and-a-half minute duration. There’s nothing understated in the melodies that carry “7,” carried by bold chordal structures that stretch out across the horizon, but it’s over all too soon; with “2” the listener gets wide colorful chords merging with synth swells and shimmering bells that open a starlit path through a maze of foggy vistas. As one ascends the mountain path that is “8,” the imagination is piqued by stunning sonic imagery that can often be likened to a living, breathing organism that exists in nature, while “9” evolves slowly out of pure darkness, highlighting powerful atmospherics as it proceeds through numerous portals and opens up into new sonic panoramas. One can go far Beyond the Sleepy Hills, it’s certainly a worthwhile journey.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Rudy Adrian

More info
http://rudy-adrian.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-sleepy-hills

 

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