Scottish composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Mitchell (aka Wasylyk) has joined forces with visionary Edinburgh label Athens of The North to present this brooding gem that almost defies definition: it’s part classical, part ambient, part folk, there are jazz touches as well as some tracks border on downbeat cool tempo soul. If you like the work of Hampshire & Foat then this is essential. Harps blend with spacey keys, horns with tight beats, field-recordings with lilting melodies that slowly unfurl. A plucked harp guides us through ‘Greendrive #2’ as more layers are added, the stunning ‘Journey To Inchcape’ builds ponderously with mournful horns and a lone drum machine before the flute carves out the most beautiful melody, while ‘Flight of The Cormorant’ offers a lift in pace as Wasylyk describes the movement and flow of the bird. ‘Adrift Below A Constellation’ is a ponderous collision of whispered vocals, slow beats, car-horn brass and lilting strings while the drone and keys of ‘Unsurfacing’ sounds like something Eno would have produced in the 70s. Stunning album.
Track listings:
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01 Through the Field Beyond the Trees Lies the Ocean by Andrew Wasylyk
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02 Greendrive #2 by Andrew Wasylyk
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03 Journey to Inchcape by Andrew Wasylyk
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04 Welter in the Haar by Andrew Wasylyk
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05 Dreamt the Breakers Spill by Andrew Wasylyk
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06 Flight of the Cormorant by Andrew Wasylyk
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07 Westway Nocturne by Andrew Wasylyk
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08 Mariners Hymn by Andrew Wasylyk
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09 Adrift Below a Constellation by Andrew Wasylyk
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10 Unsurfacing by Andrew Wasylyk
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