Alex Strohl’s photo series Highlands of Iceland captures the country’s breathtaking scenery, from black sand beaches to glacier-cut fjords. Originally from France but currently based in Whitefish, Montana, Alex takes great pleasure in travelling and translating the beauty of various corners of the world into photos for everyone to enjoy. Strohl himself has called Iceland the “creme de la creme for anyone who is drawn towards places where the ocean meets jagged mountains and cliffs”, and his appreciation for the country is far from invisible.
Browse the landscape photos and lose yourself in the fog, deep turquoise water and untouched fields.
Check out more of Alex Strohl’s photography here or give him a follow on Instagram.
In Netflix’s latest project, we are following the life of one of the biggest Hip-hop icons The Notorious B.I.G. The documentary directed by the well-renowned music video director Emmett Mallo tells the story of Notorious B.I.G in the wake of his landmark induction into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell follows the intimate life of Biggie through rarely seen footage which filmed by Biggie’s friend Damion “D-Roc” Butler and also includes interviews with Biggie’s closest friends and family. The film is executive produced by Sean Combs, Voletta Wallace, Mark Pitts, Stanley Buchthal, and Emmett and Brendan Malloy.
Watch the trailer for Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell below.
Today’s online gambling industry is worth billions of dollars in revenue globally and is destined for success in the years to come. In the previous year, 2020, the online gambling sector experienced tremendous growth due to the covid 19 crisis that saw the closure of land-based casinos. As a result, gamblers had few options other than to play in online casinos.
The internet has significantly revolutionized the gambling sector. It has opened it to a new audience that wants to play their favorite games at their convenience. While online casinos such as the Sloto Cash online casino are the perfect platform for punters to win money from their favorite games, these brands are not behind either when it comes to social networking.
Given the large number of users that social media has, casino operators have many reasons to use it for their benefit. That is to connect and engage with the users hence boost their businesses. Lets us look at how online casino operators use social media for marketing their brands.
To attract new players
Every online casino aims to expand its player base, and social media offers the best way to achieve that. Posting adverts and casino offers on social media platforms is an excellent way to convince new players to sign up and play. Again, a casino operator can track social media marketing to analyze how successful it is in converting engagements into new players.
One of the most enticing casino bonuses that appeal to social media users is the first deposit bonus that gives a new player a chance to win without using money. Studies have shown that online casino adverts appeal more to men, while online bingo is the most popular one with females.
For brand exposure
In the highly saturated online gambling industry, brand exposure is very crucial for any online casino. Posting content that can be shared on social media is one of the strategies online casinos use to get their name out there. Many online casinos have to spend thousands of dollars creating and launching social media marketing campaigns that portray their brands as modern and witty.
That is because they acknowledge the power of social networking to expose their brand to a broad gambling audience. Exposure on social media also means that they attract more gamblers to their land-based casinos.
Sharing guides and tutorials
Every player is always a beginner at some point. For online casinos to win fresh punters, sharing playing guides and tutorials is one way of achieving that. For instance, when a random social media user comes across an instructional guide on playing classic table games, it triggers them to give the game a try and win some money.
What makes this strategy unique is that it is not easy to share guides and tutorials in land-based casinos. Landbased casinos attract connoisseurs in gambling more than fresh players. Social media platforms such as youtube and live streams help online casinos achieve organic traffic through sharing.
For customer support
Have you ever tried to contact a company’s customer service to no avail? Well, that is overly frustrating. However, many savvy online casino operators are using social media to connect to their players and offer customer support. Many players always check the customer support option before they sign up to play in an online casino.
If the customer service supports engagement using different social media channels, the better placed the online casino is. Online casinos use social media to provide all-round the clock player support. Apart from emails, phones, and live chat, social media is an excellent platform for online casinos to offer customer support.
To manage customer reviews and feedback
Operating an online casino is very tricky. Any negative review about an online casino can be a turn off to potential players. The fact that players trust the online casino with their money is reason enough to be too keen when selecting an online casino to play at.
Online players check online customer reviews before they sign up to play at any casino so, the reputation of a casino matters a lot. The ability to respond to issues quickly and professionally is vital to uphold the casino’s reputation. The benefit of using social media to manage customer feedback and reviews is that it drives a positive message about the brand.
For instance, online casino operators can retweet positive customer feedback to show how good their brand is to win more players. Many people use social media to get in touch with brands, including casinos. That also allows casino operators to monitor what players are saying about their competitors.
Advertise new games
Social media advertising is free unless you are launching a paid social media advertising campaign. Online casinos use social media for advertising new games tailoring their marketing strategies around their target audiences. For instance, modern slot games are designed around different niches such as pop culture, movies, music, etc. Online casinos can tailor their advert messages to bespoke audiences depending on their game interests.
The bottom line
Online casinos have acknowledged that social media is beneficial to their business as a tool for networking with players, advertising new games, rewards, and deals, which earns them fresh players. Online gambling is now more socially accessible than before.
When it comes to being in the spotlight, there are so many things that you can do to help your career. As an artist, you’ll want to get as much publicity as you can get. However, what happens when you’re not really sure how to do this? It’s always going to be important for you to promote what you do – and there are a range of ways for you to do this when you use social media. But there’s also one medium that could be perfect for you.
YouTube is an incredibly popular platform. And even if you’ve never had any experience with video at all, you can still learn. Sometimes, promoting what you’re doing on YouTube and via video can be just what you need to do. Sharing promotional videos of your work can be good, but that’s not all.
Vlogging could be exactly what you want and need to do to grow and get more traction with what you’re creating. Let’s take a look at how to get started.
Research
To start with, you might want to do some research so that you feel like you know everything you need to. From how to upload videos to where to find the best cinematic music for your videos, there’s so much to take in. But don’t spend too long on this. Of course, you want to figure out what you need to do to get videos up, but don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good!
Start Recording
And then, you’re going to want to just start recording. Don’t plan it too much and don’t worry about how it looks. You’ll learn and get better with time. Just start to film your day-to-day life, what you’re doing behind the scenes, and try to get as much footage as you can. This is the sort of stuff that people love to watch and take in. So just start to feel more comfortable recording and you’ll get the hang of it.
Get Used To Editing
You’ll also want to start practicing your editing as well. This doesn’t have to be hard either. There’s a wealth of video editing software that you can try out as a beginner. And the more you do things, the easier you may find it to get used to editing and improving your technique.
Be Consistent
Above all else, be consistent. If you know that you can only commit to posting twice a month or once a week or whatever it may be, you need to stick to that. It can seem like a lot of work to do, but it’s the consistency that will help you to grow.
And Don’t Forget To… Enjoy It!
Finally, you will want to make sure that you actually enjoy the process of vlogging too. It can be really fun. And sure, creating the videos can be a lot of hard work. But they can work to help you promote what you’re doing and get more people interested in what you do!
Horse racing and fashion go hand in hand. Events like Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood are attended by celebrities and socialites from around the world, all sporting the latest seasonal garments.
Many will assume that, when the mud starts flying during the National Hunt racing season, that fashion becomes less important. On the contrary, selecting the right outfit for the Cheltenham Festival is vital.
Known as “the greatest show on turf”, the Cheltenham Festival is the flagship event in British National Hunt racing. The best hurdlers and chasers from around the world make the trip annual pilgrimage to Gloucestershire in March. Punters and party goers join them in their droves, and four days spent at the Cheltenham Festival is truly unforgettable.
Obviously, in March, the British weather can be rather inclement. The weather forecast plays a huge role in what outfit racegoers will wear each day, so practically should be at the forefront of your thoughts when planning your ensemble.
The stands at the Cheltenham Festival often look like a sea of tweed. Tweed is the chosen material of most racegoers, as it’s warm, traditional and aesthetically pleasing. Men tend to combine a three-piece tweed suit with either a paddock coat or a cashmere jumper. Women usually opt for softer woollen tweed, brocade or crepe. Some form of scarf is a must if the weather takes a turn for the worst.
Hats are an important accessory for female racegoers during the summer, and it’s no different at the Cheltenham Festival. Percher and Pill Box are the most popular selections during the week, and many add either a feather or a veil to their chosen headwear. Cossack hats are also a popular choice, especially if temperatures are due to be low during at the week, while fashion conscious men often opt for a sophisticated trilby.
If you plan on spending most of the afternoon outside, then a pair of gloves are an essential accessory. Those lucky enough to hold entry into one of Cheltenham’s many luxury boxes will want to layer up, combining a stylish coat with a lighter outfit geared more towards comfort.
When it comes to footwear, over-the-knee boots are very fashionable, while heeled shoes are worn with skirt and tights. Brogues are the most popular footwear with men, with stylish loafers another common sight in recent years.
So, when it comes to fashion at the Cheltenham Festival, traditional and practical is the order of the day. The exception is Ladies’ Day – day two of the meeting – where guests are encouraged to wear more colourful outfits, and prizes are handed out to the attendees who turn the most heads.
Singer-songwriter Tamar Aphek has been a prominent figure in Israel’s underground scene for over a decade. After joining her first band as a law student at Tel Aviv University, she went on to form Carusella and Shoshana, two duos she formed with drummers Guy Schecter and Jonathan Harpak respectively. In addition to touring across Europe and the US and sharing the stage with the likes of Deerhoof and M. Ward, she also helped organize the country’s most prestigious festival, Indie Negev. Though already recognized in different places around the world, her music found a new international audience when her debut full-length album, All Bets Are Off, was released by the legendary Kill Rock Stars at the end of January. Following her 2014 EP Collision as well as her score for Asaph Polonsky’s acclaimed 2016 dramedy One Week and a Day, the LP serves as a staggering display of Aphek’s wide-ranging influences, melding soaring guitars, fuzzy bass, and shape-shifting percussion that attests to the artist’s boundless creativity. Recorded at the funk and soul imprint Daptone Records and mixed by Daniel Schlett (War on Drugs, DIIV), the result is dynamic to the point of being at times deliberately overwhelming, but Aphek possesses an almost cinematic understanding of space and atmosphere that turns the album’s conflicting textures into a cohesive yet rivetingly chaotic whole.
We caught up with Tamar Aphek for the latest edition of our Artist Spotlight interview series, where we showcase up-and-coming artists and talk to them about their music.
I read that before you turned 18, you weren’t really interested in rock music and had a very classical musical education. How would you describe your relationship to music during that time?
My mother used to tell me that when I turned 7, she asked me if I would like to play the piano, and I immediately answered yes. And I remember that while some of my friends used to tell me that their parents forced them to play the piano, for me, practicing the piano was never a problem. I feel like I didn’t choose to do music as much as music chose me. When I turned 13 I went to the Academy of Music in Jerusalem, where I joined a children’s choir. It was a wonderful experience, I had the opportunity to meet huge conductors and musicians. Practically I was dealing with music most of the day and I think this was the biggest enjoyment for me.
You’ve said that it was artists like Fugazi and Slint and Sonic Youth that changed or broadened how you view music. How did you come across these kinds of bands, and what was it that drew you to their sound?
At the time, when I started the service in the army, there was this very cool venue in Tel Aviv called The Patiphon, which means “The Vinyl”. And I learned a lot about all these bands in this club. And once you start hearing one thing, you start hearing everything you can grab. And also, I started playing guitar with a teacher and he too introduced me to some stuff. At one point, it just got out of control. I started buying albums like crazy – you know, bands like Fugazi and Blonde Redhead and Unwound, these bands caught my attention, because I remember listening to bands like Fugazi that have a lot of punk songs, but they also had an album like The Argument. And all of a sudden I discovered that there was jazz in it and all these cool time signatures, and you know, these guys do have musical education. They opened new horizons for me. And for me, coming from classical music where the sound was so clean, and suddenly hearing these distorted sounds, it was like entering a magic world of distortion with a lot of nuances. The distortion of a band like Pantera isn’t like the distortion of Nirvana, isn’t like the distortion of Shellac, there are a lot of kinds of distortion.
I’m curious to hear more about your thoughts on the underground scene in Israel and Tel Aviv specifically and how that has evolved over time.
Well, around 10 years ago I did a festival in Israel, which was the first alternative music festival in the open air which I did for 3 rounds. It was kind of a pioneering project. At first came 700 people, then 1500, and finally 2000. At that time I finished my law degree and I started planning tours abroad with my band. By the time I was touring and got some hype in Europe I was not involved that much with the Israeli underground scene. People in Israel took the torch and continued with open air festivals in different places which attracted between 10,000-12,000 people. So I think a lot of people in Israel helped build the alternative scene. On the whole, I don’t think there is much difference between the Israeli underground scene and all the other equivalent underground scenes all over the world. Especially when with the development of Spotify and social media, sometimes it is very difficult to tell the difference between Israeli underground music and any underground music abroad. I don’t see any Israeli specific features of the underground scene even when the Israeli bands sing in Hebrew. The Israeli underground music scene is part of the global underground scene. I think there are a lot of influences from the global scene. Basically, I think it’s so amazing thatpeople from all over the world can listen to what you’re doing, and vice versa. So I think these mutual influences are fantastic and did help to develop the Israeli scene.
You mentioned being involved in the music scene in different ways before this album, but why did you feel like this was the right time to record a project under your name?
I had a couple of bands, and I think it had to be a different name because it was a band that did one thing, like it was one concept; on the musical production side, it was pretty much all hell breaks loose. It was like a war, you know, we would come to a venue like soldiers, carrying these crazy marshals and opening this really loud volume and performing in the middle of the floor. It was supposed to be this crazy physical experience. And I feel like in that sense, it was like a movie I did. And I think I just realized I don’t have to invent a lot of bands now, you know, I don’t have to invent a band for every movie I want to do, but rather treat an album like it was a movie. Recording my album was like creating a movie about the soundtrack of my musical experience and my interactions with audiences and partners during the last years.
I’m interested in something you mentioned in the press release about how there was a lot of space for improvisation during the making of the album, but the post-production process was very calculated. Could you elaborate on that and tell me more about what the dynamic was like during the different stages of making the album?
When I spend time with musicians, producing a song, I tend to encourage things that maybe other people wouldn’t tend to encourage. For me there was no problem with working three months with a drummer,and I think my only instruction was “Play as crazy as you can.” I encouraged my bandmates to use the song as a platform to fulfill their imaginations, and not to be afraid to improvise and take risks not to abide by basic rules When we finished recording, besides overdubbing some instruments, I sat a lot of hours with the materials and edited them. And at one point, I started feeling like I created my own samples, and I started playing with the samples in different creative ways.
So when I finally entered the amazing Strange Weather studios, you know, Daniel Schlett ended up mixing the album and he was amazing, and he brought a lot of himself to the process. But when I met Daniel, I had in my mind at least 10 ways the song ‘Crossbow’ would sound like. But still I was very flexible and I was willing to accept Schlett’s interpretation. I feel that I came to Daniel so prepared that it was not difficult for me to understand what is the way he was going to take each song.
I’m also interested in how the theme of uncertainty is reflected both musically and lyrically throughout the album. I’m thinking of especially of the song ‘All I Know’, with lyrics like “all I know is that I’m not really me.” Could you talk more about the idea behind that and how those themes came about?
Well, I chose the name – I’ll answer you, but I’ll start a little bit before – I chose the name All Bets AreOff before the pandemic. And the name was meant to describe situations in which we have all these uncertainties in life, and it creates this cognitive dissonance, when you struggle with all these different contradictions and you don’t know how things are going to develop. And for me, it’s like this prophetic thing because nowadays we have this virus, this small factor, you know, just a little virus that changes realities and all the former expectations are not relevant anymore. And that was the idea of the album, how all the assumptions you had before aren’t relevant anymore; that’s the meaning of “all bets are off”, but people also use it when they want to say, like, everything is open, all the possibilities. And I felt I wanted to create this feeling throughout the album, the feeling of stress and panic and loneliness that most people feel when things are not going the way they planned.
‘All I Know’ was a song that is meant to bring one of those feelings, trying to capture – you know, there are many songs about love, but many times these songs are like, “I love you and I miss you.” And I didn’t want that. I didn’t want an “I love you and I miss you” song. I wanted a song that deals with a deeper issue. When we talked about Carusella, it was like hell breaking loose, this was a band that was like going on war – many times I feel like I’m an actor in my song, or the people I play with are actors in my play. Sometimes I get into a character for a song and I try to understand what motivates this character. And the thing I think that bothers the character in ‘All I Know’ is more the question, “What does she know?” Like what can she say say she knows for sure? She doesn’t say, “I love you, I want to be back together,” you know, she says, “I’m not really me and there’s a problem here, like obviously if I’m not really me I can’t be with you.” So eventually nobody knows who is who in the song.
With that in mind, I was wondering about your choice to end with a cover of ‘As Time Goes By’, especially in relation to what you said about inhabiting a character like an actor in your songs.
‘As Time Goes By’, I think it’s a very special song. I chose it because I wanted a love song, and Casablanca is considered to be one of the most romantic movies of all time. And you know, the plot of the movie is not like this boy meets girl, happy kind of story. In the end, they sacrifice their love for the greater good, whether you agree or not, but that’s what they believe. But then you have ‘As Time Goes By’, and that’s like their song. It was written by Herman Hupfeld, and I feel like this is more like a love song about the concept of time itself. That’s what really caught me. I wanted a love song, but also, it has an edge. For me, this song is a celebration of time and how time can heal wounds, and what an amazing thing time is, it’s so beautiful.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
If you really want to quickly move up the career ladder, you should invest your time, energy and money in education. Getting new skills and knowledge is what helps the professionals open broad avenues for their career growth. Obtaining the relevant credential is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that you are conversant with the latest trends in the industry. Talking about the top and most popular certification providers, several names come up, but in particular, Amazon AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Practice Exam Dumps stands out. It provides numerous certificates and Amazon AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional is one of the most sought-after among them. Here we will talk about the peculiar features of this credential and the associated exam.
Main Things About the Certification
The Amazon AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional certification validates advanced expertise of the IT practitioners in designing the distributed systems on the AWS platform. Those who want to pursue this credential should have a minimum of 2 years of experience in designing and deploying Cloud architecture on AWS. The candidates for this certificate should also take the Amazon SAP-C01 test to be eligible for the badge. To help you go through this exam, let us take a look at its structure and format, as well as the preparation options that you can consider going for to get the desired score for the Amazon AWS Dumps
Peculiar Features of the Certification Exam
The Amazon SAP-C01 exam is a professional-level test that lasts 180 minutes. The exam is available in the English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese languages. The question formats of this certification test include multiple choices and multiple answers. You will need to get 750 points or more from 1000 available in order to pass this qualifying exam. The candidates have to pay $300 as the registration fee. They can visit any testing center located nearest to them to take this test after scheduling it. Alternatively, the exam can also be taken by the applicants online from the comfort of their offices or home.
When it comes to Certbolt Dumps , there are several relevant AWS training courses besides many other resources that you can choose from to acquire additional competencies measured in the SAP-C01 test. So, you can learn the topics of the exam with a qualified instructor or just use self-study tools depending on your knowledge and experience level. During your preparation for Amazon SAP-C01, you should always use exam dumps as a priority as these materials contain the real exam questions with the verified answers for a AWS Certification Exam Dumps of the content. In the end, you can also evaluate your readiness with the help of practice tests.
Conclusion
The solution architects are currently in high demand in the IT field. For those who want to get familiar with Video and APIs and also learn the ins and outs of architectural design, the Amazon AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional certification is the ideal choice. Given the popularity of the Amazon AWS Certification Training , the certified professionals can count on a variety of job offerings that pay well.
Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this segment.
This past week, slowthai dropped the final single from his new album TYRON, the Skepta-assisted ‘CANCELLED’, a hard-hitting banger that sees him directly addressing last year’s incident at the NME Awards. Taylor Swift announced the first of her re-recorded albums and released a new version of ‘Love Story’, staying true to the spirit of the original while making subtle improvements both instrumentally and vocally. Jana Bahrich delivers an impassioned performance in Francis of Delirium’s cathartic new single ‘Let It All Go’, while Madi Diaz’ latest is an evocative, slow-burning ballad. Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld announced her new album Detritus with the meditative ‘Stories’; BABii celebrated Lunar New Year with the mystical ‘SHADOW’; and finally, Bon Iver’s ethereal ambient textures accompany Ross Gay’s effervescent spoken-word track ‘Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude’.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past couple of years, then you probably know about how large the cannabis industry has become. In the previous years, the only variants of cannabis that we know of are the recreational and medical variants. Through the power of science, however, comes a potent variant derived directly from the plants themselves.
If you want to uncover the secrets of cannabis in more ways than one, then you should consider concentrating the next time. Before we dive deep into the benefits of concentrates, let’s first talk about what they are.
What Are Concentrates?
Concentrates are basically something that’s derived from a certain product. As the name suggests, a concentrate is jam-packed with what you’ll usually find in that product but in smaller doses. As such, these are more potent than what you’d usually find on the market.
For cannabis, concentrates are powerful doses of usually one of two compounds found within cannabis – THC or CBD.
If you want to get high or if you are hoping to find a sense of euphoria, then you’ll have to choose THC or tetrahydrocannabinol. THC concentrates are potent meaning even in small amounts, you are going to get intoxicated already. Do keep in mind that THC is usually the compound in marijuana that congress speaks up against. As such, THC concentrates are not legal in states where recreational marijuana is prohibited.
Alternatively, if you want to experience the medical benefits of marijuana, you may want to try CBD or cannabidiol. Often referred to as the miracle compound, CBD is known to have various health benefits such as its anti-pain, anti-inflammatory, and sleep-inducing properties. It’s also known to treat symptoms related to epilepsy.
Concentrates come packed with CBD, THC, and in some cases, a mix of both. It’s up to you which one you choose and which ones are legal in your state. These aren’t your typical doses of marijuana though. Concentrates can be consumed in more ways than one and you are free to experiment.
How Do You Consume Concentrates?
Concentrates are available in various forms. What’s even better is that manufacturers are always looking to develop more and more ways to consume these concentrated products. The most common form of concentrates comes in oil tinctures. These can be taken directly by taking a drop or two in your tongue. You can also use it to damp cigarettes or even your regular marijuana roll with.
Believe it or not, concentrates can be used for cooking. You can find countless CBD oil dishes online. That’s all on top of edible concentrates which come in the form of sweet treats such as cake pops, gummies, chocolates, and more. Some beverage manufacturers are also making THC or CBD-infused drinks.
If you want to take the concentrates in their form, then you’ll need to invest in an intricate rig. We are, of course, talking about the nectar collector which is basically like a dab rig used to vaporize hash and concentrates. The resulting vapor from the process is what you inhale.
Inhaling vapor is much more preferred as compared to inhaling smoke. Even if it’s marijuana or concentrates that you are smoking, the smoke can still cause serious lung issues that you may want to avoid. Dab rigs offer the safest alternative to smoking and more people are trying it out already.
Why Choose Concentrates?
Next comes the important question, why should you choose concentrates over regular marijuana or other forms of it?
For starters, these products are more potent than all other cannabis products. For instance, potency levels of a THC concentrate are usually at around 50%-90%. On the other hand, cannabis flowers are at 8%-25% only. If you want to get the most out of CBD or THC without having to take copious amounts of it, then concentrates are the way to go.
Another benefit is that concentrates come in more forms as compared to regular marijuana. This means you are free to choose whichever way you want to take your CBD or THC. Marijuana is often mostly smoked. Not everyone is a smoker but thanks to concentrates, you can eat, vape, and even rub them on your body.
Concentrates are perhaps the best evolution coming from the cannabis industry. Whether you want THC or CBD, there’s bound to be a concentrate product that’s just for you. If you’re still worried about the effectiveness of these products, then it is a must that you try out some products first.
A quick glance through the self-penned notes for Chuck Johnson‘s latest album, The Cinder Grove, is enough to tell you that this is an artist who not only takes his craft seriously, but who approaches it with thought and ambition. Take the fact that, for this record, Johnson dug through archival recordings to extract reverb and echo qualities from specific physical locations that he wished to sonically recreate. It also says much that the composer and pedal-steel guitarist has performed at both the Liverpool Festival of Psychedelia and the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival. Based in Oakland, CA, Johnson’s long list of works include solo guitar albums, a collaboration with the multi-instrumentalist Thrill Jockey artist Marielle V. Jakobsons, and a host of film and TV soundtracks.
Released via the wonderfully adventurous Glitterbeat Records, The Cinder Grove is presented as “a suite of requiems for lost places.” It features Johnson on pedal steel, synths and organs, alongside the aforementioned Jakobsons on violin, Hilary Lewis on viola and violin, Crystal Pasucci on cello and Sarah Davachi on piano. ‘Raz-de-Marée’ opens the set with a mantra-like organ refrain which loops softly as the music evolves to incorporate steel guitar lamentations and otherworldly overtones. It is no wonder that Johnson’s work is so sought-after by film producers; this meditative yet highly-engaging piece evokes a grab-bag of human emotions, from yearning to acceptance. There is nothing ‘ambient’ here, as Johnson breathes life into the track through subtle shifts and sparkling nuance.
‘Serotiny’ echoes the best of Michael Oldfield and Terry Riley, transforming electronic sound into a visceral and expansive expression of beauty and hope. Johnson finds the perfect balance between stability and advancement as waves of reverberating synth spread like ripples in the metaphorical pond of humanity. The lightest of touches steers this track here and there, opening bright gaps in the clouds, uncovering pathos in the rain.
‘Constellation’ succinctly outlines with its title the scope and breadth of a piece that flings itself over a deep blue blanket of resonating sound, displaying pin-pricks of shimmering loveliness. It breathes in and out like some fantastical and benign cosmic beast. By the time you reach ‘Red Branch Bell,’ a track “inspired by the harmonic language of Estonian composer Arvo Part,” you will find yourself completely under Johnson’s spell. Titanic blocks or icebergs of vibrating magic rise and fall as glittering circles of strings circle around them.
Album closer ‘The Laurel’ brings us gently back to ourselves with a miasma of slowly-pulsing bioluminescence under which meadows of synth roll and flutter, and over which floats Johnson’s pedal-steel. It is one of the most delicate tracks on this album, an unfolding vista of sound-shapes and tones. “In California, the laurel under-brush that grows throughout the coastal redwoods, pine, and oak woodlands represents resilience to fire and hope for restoration,” writes Johnson, “I felt like this image and the uplift of this track was the appropriate one to end the album.”
The sheer amount of detail contained within The Cinder Grove is astonishing. On this album, Johnson’s mastery of musical time and space is coupled magnificently with his talent for blending acoustic and electronic sounds, rendering it a grand statement on a human scale. Fans of Riley, Eno or John Surman’s works for ECM will find much to treasure in these expansive, mesmerizing explorations.
