Throughout our days on this earth, there are people who come and go, but there are always those life-long friends who touch our lives repeatedly, from whom we may be separated for long periods of time but who always return to joyous reunion. With such friends we can truly share the story of our lives, for they have the history with us to really know and understand that story - and likewise we know them so well as to understand theirs.
So it is sometimes when running a netlabel. It doesn't happen often, but we at Earth Mantra sometimes have the distinct sensation of being an artist's distant traveling companion, of having the rare privilege of briefly walking alongside certain artists as they travel their life's path through their art.
Take for example Dale Humphries of Arcticology, who has through Earth Mantra released every album he has thus far created. As we listen to his latest creation, entitled "Eternal Now", we are reminded of what a joy indeed it is to hear another chapter in this friend's story. And we count ourselves fortunate to be able to truly understand.
What a release it is. At thirty nine minutes and change, it is Dale's shortest album so far, but it is packed full of the most ethereal and introspective ambient music we have yet heard from his Arcticology project.
The music is simply exquisite. It is suffused with drone, completely suitable for work or sleep listening, meditation, or any passive environment. But it is still quite melodic and beautiful, with easily enough structure to satisfy the active listener. And as one would expect from Arcticology, the composition and sound design is flawless.
Indeed, Dale's use of setting and repetition reminds us strongly of the great ambient masters of old, and we would go so far as to suggest that if any contemporary artist has taken up Eno's mantra of ambience, it would be Dale Humphries. He is truly one of the finest practitioners of the high art of ambient mood music, and this album is a masterwork by any measure. Truly essential listening for any lover of ambient music.
Earth Mantra is proud to submit to you "Eternal Now" by our friend Articology, one of the finest ambient albums we have ever heard. May there be many more such stories we have to hear from this exceptionally talented artist.
As always, all Earth Mantra releases are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license. For commercial use, please contact us.
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Music composed, recorded, and produced by Arcticology.
Released in July 2009.
Released under the "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported" license, which allows and encourages free use of this material so long as certain conditions are met. Details of this license can be found at:
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Reviewer:thirdsun -
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August 11, 2009 Subject:
Again!
Dale Humphries proves yet again that he truly understands the nuances and subtleties of the Ambient Music genre. Here you'll find peaceful drones; thoughtful hints of piano; quiet reflections; pensive pastorals; & shimmering, moody moments along the borders of darkness (but never over the sonic edge into Dark Ambient). A beautiful and masterful work all around!
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