Loscil - First Narrows

"First Narrows" is one of the warmest ambient/minimal releases I found so far; being so conservative, yet so deep and invitating, the whole album drives the listener through different atmospheres in one rather peaceful journey. The opening track, followed by "Lucy Dub" makes the first move into the something that I would call the definition of minimalism: a perfect overture to the self-titled track, dubby-floating ambience that deserves to stay forever in my top 10 songs list. Once I made an experiment by continuously repeating it for more than 5 hours - and I never felt bored! Sometimes it reminds me of Underworld's "Second Hand", but in totally inexpressible manner.
The rest of the album follows the same beauty of gentle simplicity; the listener might feel like he's billion miles away from home. "Cloister" would then then suddenly bring you at your fireplace, injecting warm and dreamy sparks into the perfect calmness of Christmas Eve.
Don't miss this release!

Loscil just keeps getting better and better. "First Narrows" is by far his most accomplished and satisfying album yet. The subtle addition of guitar and electric piano on a few tracks adds a suprising amount of warmth and depth the album, and the slight variations across individual tracks keeps things from becoming static. Loscil shows himself to be a master of warm, melodic yet simple dub/ambient with this release. Can't wait for the next one...