MAX CORBACHO[Max Corbacho has been creating Ambient Atmospheric – Electronic Music for over two decades, combining spiraling, synth-driven drifting harmonies with breathing, timeless soundscapes.][Ambient Atmospheric – Electronic Music - Soundscapes - Space Music]

The Delicate Essence of Solitude – review by Marius-Christian Burcea

max — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 12:38:57 +0000

«From the moment I pressed play, I was transported to a realm where time slows down and the mind finds solace in lucid repose.
The music evokes a sense of solitude without feeling lonely. Instead, it celebrates the delicate moments of introspection, inviting listeners to embrace the beauty radiating from their own core.
`The Delicate Essence of Solitude` is not merely an album to be heard; it’s an experience to be felt and a sonic expression of our deep longing for reconnection with the intangible Essence.»

2024 | DIGITAL | STREAMING | GO TO SHOP

The Delicate Essence of Solitude – review by Julian Boyce

max — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 12:38:57 +0000

Max Corbacho’s «The Delicate Essence of Solitude» is a mesmerising journey into the depths of ambient electronic music, showcasing the Spanish musician’s mastery of vast soundscapes and evocative storytelling through sound. Across six movements, Corbacho weaves a tapestry of drones, ranging from low rumbles to ethereal high frequencies, creating a sense of immense distance and expansive vistas within the sonic landscape.

What sets this piece apart is its ability to transport listeners on a solitary expedition into the innermost recesses of the mind and psyche. Despite its title suggesting a cold detachment, the music exudes a warmth that reflects Corbacho’s Spanish heritage. It’s like a gentle embrace from the sun-soaked countryside, inviting and soothing rather than distant and alien.

As the music unfolds, it gently opens up the unobservable, revealing palettes of colour and sound that invite exploration and introspection. The use of repeated sound loops, symphonic chords, and evolving textures is a trademark of Corbacho’s style, creating an immersive experience that lingers in the mind long after the music has ceased.

«The Delicate Essence of Solitude» is not just a collection of sounds; it’s a narrative, a journey that envelops your thoughts, moods, and expectations. It emerges like a welcome from emptiness, much like the sun rising to warm the skin, gradually growing in strength and enveloping the listener in its subtle grip.
Personally, this piece stands out as one of his most heartfelt and strongest odysseys in sound since his acclaimed 2018 release, «Horizon Matrix.» It’s an imaginative and intoxicating sonic experience that resonates as audio thoughts in the mind, leaving a lasting impression and inviting repeated exploration. The return of a close friend, long missed yet always eagerly welcomed back into body, heart and soul.
Julian Boyce 15.04.2024

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The Delicate Essence of Solitude – review by Honza Beneš

max — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 12:38:57 +0000

We have been waiting for the new Max Corbacho album as of a while now, and this hiatus has really raised the curiosity of many fans. The uncertainty has dissolved a few days ago when Max announced the release of the new album «The Delicate Essence of Solitude». Max Corbacho has always maintained a very high level of his production and the psychological sophistication of his ambient releases. The new album exceeds all expectations.

This album was created between 2019 and 2024. Fans of his music prefer vivid types of albums. The author of this review highly appreciates especially the «oceanic» albums, where we could, of course, include «The Ocean Inside», «Horizon Matrix» and above all, the magical record «Source of Present». Deep breaths of the synths, combined with stunning harmonic textures are the greatest assets of the new album.

The new album contains six quite diverse compositions. With the composition Primordial Flower, the album begins with a surprising dynamic, combined with a gentle sparkling sounds in the background. This interesting detail adds movement to the composition and at the same time acts as a gentle pull into the plot. It fully develops with the longest and very majestic composition on the album, The Intangible Essence. Everything we love about Max’s meditative yet powerful space music is present here. Sublime waves of synths cascade over each other, almost falling silent at some times to rise into an elegant crescendo. This track is the album’s carrying pedestal. Following the three tracks, two massive suites Mythic Shape and Oracle of Dawn with intermezzo Fragment of Dream, it continues to play with the dynamics, develops a feeling of a pleasant solitude (try to play it sometime while sailing on the sea or on a river, lake…). Sailing through turbulent waters subsides with the final calm coda of the track Soul Friend. Resting and accepting the weight of the world, acceptance and peace. That is the domain of the composition.

Max Corbacho’s work is full of surprises and refined processes, stylish turns and twists. But we will always recognize his unique imprint. His authenticity is undisputed, as is his sensitive ability to utilize the capabilities of hardware synthesis and effects. All of us who try to create our own music in the introverted ambient world can be deeply inspired by Max Corbacho. Masterpiece.

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Atmospheric Twilight – review by Synthsequences

max — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 07:54:50 +0000

ATMOSPHERIC TWILIGHT is the 6th album of the always cosmic and dark ambient universe of Max Corbacho that I review. And I also listened to several of them without writing about those. So, the question arose whether I should review another of his albums that are conceived in the same comfort zone that the Spanish musician-synthesist has been bathing since moons. Since I heard, out of curiosity, Nocturnal Emanations in the early 2000’s in fact. At that time, I was not really fond of the kind of atmospheric music without rhythmic life. But I changed. My taste for the genre has evolved over the years, unlike Max Corbacho’s vision, which for some reason still manages to enchant me, to caress my soul with ghostly impulses that fit that need to be alone with my headphones drifting in a Cosmos filled with verses without words.

The long title-track continues the momentum of Equinox with synth waves that are pushed on the impact of the previous ones. The music drifts between the Cosmos and our ears with this opaque tint where the dark lets filter shades of lavender and orange, giving an impressive sound show where the abysses continuously whisper their chthonian charms. This sound show is as great as the 74 minutes of this ATMOSPHERIC TWILIGHT by the way. The slow and long movement is comparable to a mass of winds that roar like lava flowing from a volcano with their scarlet colors. These winds in suspension release fine laments that moan like ghosts lost in the cosmic immensity, creating this perfect balance between the atony of the movement and its latent charms of these chants that rise between the colors of the volcanic ashes. A little more and we would be in the abyssal spheres of Steve Roach’s Immersion series, colors and tonal life in more. With a little imagination, we can also define this movement as a mega space shuttle and its linear humming that escapes from its flaming grooves. But no matter where we place the setting of Atmospheric Twilight, Max Corbacho makes drift our emotions through the twists and turns of our past throughout the 45-minute track. The American meditative music sculptor is the most realistic point to compare and situate the Barcelona synthesist’s ambient, and sometimes abstract, works. And a track like Stillness Glow cements this comparison beautifully. The difference is the cosmic side that the musician-synthesist brings to the depth of his atmospheric textures, giving a wider range to his music. I like the sense of urgency that emanates from Stillness Glow with these waves that stand out like shadows to add a slight dramatic touch. A very nice track! But I like even better the slow movement, quite similar, of Dusk Awakes. The atmospheres, on a background of twilight color, have an even more accentuated depth in this title where translucent filaments escape and draw deformed arabesques. And the drones have a more musical texture here than elsewhere because of the outer thin layer of sizzle that surrounds them.

It is the charm of the meditative cosmic music of Max Corbacho! This art of nuancing his colors in order to insert lyrical movements without stanzas shines from everywhere in ATMOSPHERIC TWILIGHT. When you think about it, as long as it’s beautiful, well done and effortlessly tame, the Barcelona-based synthesist may be doing well to stay so anchored in his comfort zone…which becomes ours!

Sylvain Lupari (January 26th, 2023) *****

SynthSequences.com

Available on Max Corbacho’s Bandcamp

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Equinox – review by Sonicimmersion.org

max — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 09:47:43 +0000

A most gracious, gentle evolving sound world of repose and contemplation lies at the core of “Equinox”, a 74-minute textural extravaganza by Spanish ambient-master Max Corbacho. Max already announced the recording at the end of May 2022 as a sound distillation from an idea created in 2019 that had taken definitive form in recent months as a serene, breathing, bright and positive long track.

Well, transcending in Mr Corbacho’s continuous long form expanse is another lovely and most satisfying undertaking with great sets of floating, longing and atmospheric pads. The latter evaporate pleasant rays of energy as the constellation of dreamful tapestries linger onward, occasionally even in a weightless, effortlessly manner. It’s simply another must-have for ambient/space aficionados.

2022 | CD | DIGITAL | STREAMING | GO TO SHOP

Equinox – review by Julian Boyce

max — Mon, 30 May 2022 07:39:41 +0000

Equinox, the latest journey into pure audio-emotion from Max Corbacho, the revered electronic soundscape artist from Spain. Max has a history of sublime, expansive music, experienced as though the listener is walking through a cathedral of light. In fact, his big open-space, sound textures are a trademark; music synonymous with stepping between the pillars of the Cathedral de Barcelona, feeling the sunlight from the stained-glass windows, moving through moments of tranquility and reflection at one moment. Of diaphanous energy at another. An equinox of equal discoveries: stillness and activity!
Equinox is his latest release, and the perfect example of Max Corbacho at his most powerful. I like to describe his music in terms of colours and landscapes. The longform piece, 1hr 14 minutes in total, begins with gentle tendrils of sound, like ripples across a lake, insinuating their ways into your headspace. Building in momentum and complexity over 30 minutes as current of sound takes hold of the listener. Soft streams of tenuous emotion build up, some stronger than others and and pushing to the front of the sound experience. The ripples become a gentle wind across water, coalescing into a heady mixture of equal moments of quietness and energy – a true equinox!
By midway, the sound is swirling in muscular currents and bright washes of light – in expressions of sound that cannot be described in words, only in a radiance of emotion to affect each listener in their particular flavour of feelgood. The same uplift as the simple joy of warm sun on your face, a fresh breeze, and a dramatic landscape stretching out to the horizon. Shut your eyes, experience without words the kaleidoscope of colours beneath your eyelids – these are Max Corbacho sounds made real.
As the music recedes in a gentle tide, as evening descends across this soundscape, the last 25 minutes leave the listener with an afterglow of fulfilment. Of carefree joy finally being granted. The streams and currents of sound pull back into mysterious realms. Until finally, we anticipate and then experience the return of absolute silence. And all is good with our world. A silence made so much more joyful by the extraordinary sound/vision from the creative source that is Max Corbacho.

2022 | CD | DIGITAL | STREAMING | GO TO SHOP

A Connection to the Wonder – review by Paul Rijkens

max — Mon, 30 May 2022 07:36:13 +0000

At the moment of writing is our country in a cold and dark time, cold because of the temperature and the many rain, dark because of the short days but also because of the lockdown. We can therefore some warmth and positivism to use. Max Corbacho offers us through his music. The one from Barcelona electronic music artist is a specialist in creating the most beautiful synthesizer sounds which he layered on top of each other lays. This produces a serene and, at least for me, uplifting atmosphere on. In his early days, his music sometimes rhythms, albeit cautious; late today he who left behind. A Connection To The Wonder contains a trio numbers, varying in time between about thirteen minutes and almost forty minutes. The longest composition, the title piece, opens the CD. The song starts with gorgeous, Steve Roach-esque strings after which a very calm part entry does that all the time becomes softer. This track has to my opinion a bit like Roach’ masterpiece Structures From Silence. This Space Is Being Created I think it’s a great title to Max’ spatial music. About speaking to ambient specialists: the somewhat “rolling” sounds (I can do not describe it otherwise) and the structure that we hear here, I think a little bit towards the great album Planetary Unfolding by Michael Stearns. Quiet Renewal closes the CD with a series of very beautiful sounds. Max, thanks for this bright spot this dark time!

2021 | CD | DIGITAL | STREAMING | GO TO SHOP

THE OCEAN INSIDE – Review by Ambient Visions

max — Fri, 22 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

It is often the case that artists who are the most well-known or who have been around a genre of music the longest are the ones that everyone wants to review and I will be the first to admit that time sometimes constrains me as what I can listen to and review for Ambient Visions. There are times that I wish that I had a staff of writers for AV so that all of the music that we receive gets a fair share of the spotlight on the site. Max Corbacho is one of those that I have neglected over the years and I wanted to start to atone for that lack of coverage by reviewing his last album which came out in 2012 and is called The Ocean Inside. Max Corbacho was born in the southwest of Spain in the province of Badajoz which makes it even more important that those of us in the U.S. get to know the name and appreciate the great ambient music that Max creates and releases. The ambient community is not bound by the artificial borders of the world anymore. When it comes to the music that we will appreciate and listen to the internet has created a borderless, open community of music lovers and creators that speak to each other in the universal language of music.

The Ocean Inside is actually a double release so that it has the equivalent of 2 albums contained in the digital download of this project or two CD’s if you are buying the physical product from Max. With a title like The Ocean Inside you would be right to guess that the music contained here would be vast in nature as well as dark and mysterious in the way that the sounds are woven together. The music listeners will find on this album is the equivalent of space music but from an earthbound perspective. We often forget just how profound and mysterious that the oceans that surround us really are. We look at the surface of the water from the comfort of a boat bobbing on the waves drenched in sunshine while below us lies depths that very few have ever descended to explore. Max has captured that quality in the compositions that make up these two discs. With a total of 14 songs that runs for 2 hours and 27 minutes it is very easy to immerse yourself in this environment and feel the cold depths of the water close in around you as you continue to sink ever deeper into the pitch black that seems to go on forever.

Max has created points of light in the darkness so as to make the journey into the depths a little less like dropping into a dark bottomless hole and gives the listener some light as if it was filtering down from the surface through hundreds of feet of water. Not enough to call it bright but enough so that once your eyes adjust to it you can vaguely see some things nearby. The Endless Flame is one of those lighter spots as it sheds a dim light on the music that had come before like Offshore Currents which expressed the darker side of the ocean depths. The music that Max composed for this release is quite intense in nature as the synths offer up wave after wave of deep emotions that continually wash over the listener from beginning to end. The first album in this set closes with a 29 minute descent entitled Towards the Bottomless Sea which leaves behind the feeling of waves as you drift ever downward and leaves the listener with the sensation of floating and drifting in the dark completely enveloped in the stillness that is very noticeable in this piece. Max has done a great job with this song as it caresses the listener with a velvet touch that is very soothing and calm and would be a great song to set up as a loop and go to sleep by.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the title at this point because I do believe that the ocean Max is referring to is not a physical ocean that we see when we go to the beach but the ocean that lies at the heart of each one of us within our minds and spirits. The title The Ocean Inside speaks to me of a journey of exploration to the darkest unexplored depths that exist within each of our hearts. While it would be easy enough to think more in terms of the dark waters that we have all seen videos of as diving bells sink for miles into the abyss of the physical ocean I think that Max has taken us on a journey to show us that the depths of who we are rarely see the light of day and that if we were to actually dive into those depths it would be very comparable to having dived into the deepest part of the ocean.

On The Ocean Inside Max has taken his listeners on a sonic journey that is comparable to the farthest reaches of space or the depths of the oceans or that infinite space that lies within each of us and allows you plenty of time to float and explore that space while his music acts as beacon in the darkness to let you know that all is well. The music you will find on these two discs is a mysterious enchanting work of art and the results are very impressive. Max has shown that he is a highly talented musician and that through his music he is more than capable of translating the many shades of the ocean whether that ocean lies without or within into a musical canvas filled with the spacious sounds that he has created for this album. The sound quality is impeccable and that convinces me that we will be hearing from Max Corbacho for many years to come. Definitely recommended by Ambient Visions.

Reviewed by Michael Foster, editor Ambient Visions

THE OCEAN INSIDE – Review by Paul Rijkens / iO Pages

max — Fri, 31 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Spanish musician Max Corbacho has grown into one of the absolute masters in ambient/spacemusic. His albums are like an ocean of peace and tranquillity. Well, oceans are the central concept on his double album The Ocean Inside. Max sees the mind as an ocean with constant changing waves. In his music he goes as deep as a bottomless ocean. He has the gift to create a wonderful carpet of sounds with what seem a few sounds and only a little shifts in atmosphere. That is a wonderful thing. In this kind of music, a lot of musicians are active who produce only sounds but no atmosphere and certainly not music. Corbacho does! The first seven pieces of the first cd are one continuous whole of the most beautiful sounds that Max creates with a pallet of synthesizers and samplers. The sounds are soft and fine. They really are like the ocean but I can also imagine a journey into the mind when I listen to the music. Especially Web Of Eyes sounds nicely full. Towards The Bottomless Sea, that is almost a half an hour long, is even softer and also very imaging. This approach is carried on on the second disc with Dive In. Here, the tracks are also continuous. Awaken is an excellent composition here. Deeper Into The Ocean, the last track on the album, goes deepest in my opinion with great repetitive and slowly moving sounds, comparable with the early music of Steve Roach. You need to open yourself to this absolutely fantastic music. If you do, The Ocean Inside is a tremendous experience.

Website: www.maxcorbacho.com.

Quando Brian Eno ebbe l’intuizione dell’ambient music, le idee si indirizzarono dapprima verso gli spazi definiti (aeroporti, stazioni, etc.) ma furono probabilmente i musicisti ambient statunitensi ad espandere il concetto dello spazio da «ricoprire» facendolo passare da uno ampio ma comunque con dei confini, ad uno vastissimo che non poteva non riguardare gli elementi fondamentali della nostra natura. L’oceano era uno di quegli spazi che pur non avendo il requisito infinitesimo del cosmo, era comunque una delle forze più espanse della terra. Su quest’argomento la musica ha sempre avuto un riferimento, ma solo l’ambient music si prestava ad una descrizione sensitiva più verosimile della realtà sonora: al di là dello sfruttamento ricevuto come musica di riflessione e relax e dell’ambiguità suscitata dall’argomento, versioni «serie» che poggiassero sulla considerazione che si potesse simulare un’esplorazione delle profondità oceaniche non ne vennero fatte poi molte. Uno dei tentativi più riusciti che io ricordo di entrare nella imprescrutabilità delle acque profonde è stato quello profuso da Robert Carty in «Oceanic Space» che strutturò un’intero album dedicato all’argomento (con una lunga traccia «concreta» in cui si raccolgono suoni marini), ma è indubbio che moltissimi musicisti, anche fuori dal genere ambient, si siano avvicinati al tema (in forma non organizzata) conservando la loro prospettiva stilistica. La recentissima pubblicazione di Max Corbacho rientra in quello sforzo musicale teso ad una completa compenetrazione dell’ambiente di viaggio sotto il mare che mira non solo ad una semplice simulazione sonora che faccia godere l’ascoltatore di momenti rilassati di benessere ricostruiti con un «drone» sintetico, ma che faccia rivivere un nuovo senso del viaggio sottomarino, che cerca di catturare l’animo «biologico» delle acque e dei suoi abissi, risultato ottenuto attraverso un lavoro musicale pazientoso tendente all’abbinamento delle due preposizioni «increspature dell’oceano»/»sfaccettature del suono». «The ocean inside» ci fa perdere la memoria del tempo come in un buon film di fantascienza, e attraverso le sue minime e calcolate variazioni, è un colossal sugli effetti pseudo-psicologici provocati da un attento ascolto delle turbe marine: correnti che suscitano idee, spazi di mare inperlustrati che evocano ricordi; sembra di assistere ad un documentario in cui chi prende la parola è il soggetto che si racconta, che sembra allontanare il desiderio di spiegare abusi e soprusi degli uomini e dichiara la propria funzione, ne riconosce la propria importanza e lancia messaggi di spiritualità. E’ incredibile come tutto questo possa essere fatto da un uomo con un semplice sintetizzatore.