This is a compilation of ambient music from the ten year span of PORTAL.Opener “July” is a slow guitar and double mellow flowing synth pad fest.Track 2 hits us with its Casio keyboard rhythm stick alongside washing ambient chords. In retrospect the beats on this track do sound very dated, especially for 2000 when it was originally released, with the obviously crap drum machine used not as a pastiche or part of a beat buildup but seriously & relentlessly. It just sounds overly contradictory to my ears.
However “Sometimes I’m lost” (Schengen remix) takes things into much more interesting zones, with off-beat beats beating away at the lush, simple chords. Next up “Even the sun” has a really uplifting feel & is just the ticket for sunrise breakfasts or morning suppers when the world seems really luvved up & calmly extatic. The spacey beat & solid bass work discretly in underpinning a delightful ambient wash, with the vocals of Rachel Hughes. The rest of the album follows a similar pattern & is a good listen, with plenty of staring space. Occasionally I feel the inspiration drying up a bit, but fans of ambience should investigate.
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