I do feel that I’ve been drowning (metaphonically speaking) in gentle ambient works of late, and while I do have something of a soft spot for these albums built on slowly turning waves of amorphous sound by way of background music, they are – for me, at least – very much that: background music. Try as I might, I find it difficult to stay focused on the music, certainly to the extent that I’m able to pass critical judgment. Blame the age of Facebook and the short attention span, blame the demands of multi-tasking and text and emails arriving every three minutes, or blame me for my inability to concentrate after a day of being bombarded with shit on shit at the office before I sit down to listen, as objectively as I can, to a stack of new releases.
So, what makes Steve Hauschildt’s ‘Strands’ stand out? Nothing, really. It’s pleasant. It’s mellow. It has sonic depth, the textures are fine, and the focus soft as it bubbles and ripples and floats around undemandingly. The beats, when they emerge, take the form of delicate pulses or distant digital thumps. It’s very Tangerine Dream. It’s very myriad post-Tangerine Dream ambient works. It’s extremely pleasant.
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And, as I type and wade through my emails and all the rest, sipping a much-needed beer by candlelight in my cramped office, oppressively stacked floor-to-ceiling with books and CDs and a load of miscellaneous mess with ‘Strands’ playing, I find at some point along the way, I’ve stopped clenching my jaw and grinding my teeth. My shoulder are no longer rigid with tension. It’s not all down to the beer and the low-level lighting. So, thank you Steve Hauschildt, for making an album that has the power to aid the restoration of equilibrium and calm.
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