Caleb Deupree , Ambient Visions

«Max Corbacho’s new release, Resonant Memory of Earth, should appeal to lovers of slow, quiet, dreamy ambience such as James Johnson’s Entering Twilight and the second disc of Steve Roach’s Dreamtime Return. Although nominally divided into four tracks, Resonant Memory is really a 73-minute opus with no breaks and few overt differences between the separate pieces.

Most of the album is composed of long, sweeping motions, too protean in form to be considered drones. Overtones from single pitches slowly divide and merge into each other, fed by occasional swaths of white noise. There are hints of melodies in Lands of Sacred Silence, and the distant promise of wildlife and morning birdsong in the beautiful long title track that closes the album, but elsewhere we hear gentle shimmering, poised halfway between sleep and waking.

The ambience is still and beatless except for a ten-minute interlude in the title track, where Corbacho introduces a simple rhythm loop of hand drums and seed rattles. Corbacho is a Spanish artist whose previous releases have been highly praised, and which focus on summer nights and nocturnal breezes. With this release, he provides a very spacious sound, layering the sonorities between both channels and with enormous reverberation that gives the listener a peaceful sense of distance.