What is Ambient music for?
Brian Eno, someone who should know, said that it "must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable at it is interesting"..
On this basis, it is no criticism to describe 'Primavera' as an album full of background music you could easily forget was playing. It is merely to acknowledge that Gonçalo Pereira (born 1984. Lisbon, Portugal) makes ambient music of the purist and, thus, the most ignorable form.
Nothing on this album is intended to intrude or distract even though Pereira taps into other genres such as post-rock and modern classical.
Indeed, before going solo, the artist was the leader of a post-rock band with a grammatically challenged name: How Comes The Constellations Shine.
Primavera is the third album under the moniker Diamond Gloss, a name that unfortunately suggests something sparkling yet superficial.
The piano is the main instrument although this is the first release by Pereira to include a second musician: violinist Maria do Mar.
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He also incorporates glitchy sounds to evoke an organic atmosphere with rustling, creaking and cooing effects that bring to mind woodland excursions and/or encounters with birds.
There's a hint of choral backing on Movement but, otherwise, there are no vocals or voice samples. Often the minimalism becomes almost John Cage-like in its use of quiet or subdued passages.
For instance, Breakers, the closing track, begins with 30 seconds of near silence before slowly swelling to an almost apologetic crescendo after around seven minutes.
And through it all, the calm remains unbroken.
Not thrilling, but efficient.
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