Beach Sloth

Wil Bolton - Amber Studies 7.4

                Wil Bolton’s ‘Amber Studies’ has our environment as the glue. Melodies and reality merge together to form a weird hybrid. It explores the concept of melody living among us. As the world continues Wil is there to document every single nuance. Now the field recordings and music are one of the same. Thanks to his careful editing it remains impossible to have one without the other. Throughout the album Wil shows the symbiotic relationship between sound and outright ambience. More often than not, the experience is beautiful. 

                As the album progress it pulls further and further away from reality. Slowly reality begins to fade away as the all-encompassing drone appears to take hold. With the drone’s ebb and flow reality still takes hold. Indeed the ambient noises of the field recordings give the pieces a certain natural rhythm. Wil notices this as goes through each drone. Yes the drones increase in intensity as they progress. But there is still enough clarity in the album to show the importance of reality. For these pieces do drift off with their attention and repetition. However with the noise of a normal day filtering in we are reminded that this beauty is always around us. We can tune it in and out as we see fit. 

                That’s perhaps the best element of the album. Wil Bolton studies the importance of our day to day lives in music. Perhaps these pieces could exist without the field recordings but they wouldn’t be anywhere as lively.