Ecovillage – Sacred World (2018)

Constellation Tatsu

Bandcamp

• Art pop 
• Baroque pop 
• Musique concrète 
• Chamber pop 
• Sophisti-pop 
• New Age 
• Ambient pop 
• Experimental pop

The Swedish duo of Emil Holmström and Peter Wikström provides a picturesque glimpse into an intimate life of indie music. More profoundly, what happens behind the veiled walls of advanced indie pop, being comparable with the path at the point of the second half of the 80s regarding Talk Talk and also more restrained moments of Simon Jeffes' led Penguin Cafe Orchestra come to mind. And if you implement imagination of how could sound Pygmalion (by Slowdive) in the middle of nature then it is for you. Bamboo flutes, bird chirping, gusts of wind, the flood of water, and exquisite swathes of sea waves are intertwined with lone guitar chords, sparse drumming and slowed-down strings. It is said by the Chinese if you want to learn to play the bamboo flute the best teacher for it is the wind. I guess the album may be a case of that learning process (particularly at Garden Of Bliss). All in all, superb revelation through sound and nature. It is an example of perfect New Age. The fabulous one is a notch in the discography of Constellation Tatsu.

Ecovillage – Sacred World (2018)

Constellation Tatsu

• New Age 
• Dreamwave 
• Art pop 
• Ambient 
• Post-rock 
• Organic electronica 
• Post-pop 
• Avant-pop

Comment: the duo of Emil Holmström and Peter Wikström aka Ecovillage's music has been changed a bit in comparison to one of their first outings since the beginning of the 10s. While the complicated formula they did have established then can be superimposed upon the recent sound as well. The influences obviously come from intellectual rock and experimental music scenes like krautrock, progressive rock, and Kosmische Musik. For instance, some rarefied extractions you can map out on this 5-notch issue used to hark back to Manuel Göttsching's experiments on atmospheric guitars and spaced-out electronic treatments in the beginning of the 70s. Howerer, at times one must go further back in time by getting to the exuberant flickers of tiki and exotica music. Thirdly, though, it is an example of contemporary indie music being a part of chillwave, glo-fi and hypnagogic pop movement. Undoubtedly, you are not going to have objections by drawing parallels upon the likes of The Real Estate, Ducktails, x. y. r., Tont, and Monster Rally. From the aforementioned line apart an album called With Fragile Wings We Reach The Sun (2013, Parallax Sounds) was more a poppy case of shoegaze, baggy and dream pop amalgamation. More profoundly, in comparison to one of their first issues being released on EverythingIsChemical, and Beko DSL, those heavenly sonorous bows of droning strings are traded for blissful laid-back flute whiffs and sultry field recordings, and trance-y tanpura meanders chiming as if the parable of having been living with the world at peace for a while. Musically it used to be more than ever before in concordance with the term "ecovillage" due to sustainable and contemplative intentions and accomplishments. I also added the term "post-rock" among the tags though it is similarly as conditional as it is related to late period Talk Talk' music (in the sense the phase of the style is left behind or followed it just with the purpose to get rid of it). The masterpiece is a bit in the discography of Constellation Tatsu. For me, alongside with Joxfield ProjeX, another duo, the most blistering Swedish act now.

The Ears On The Trees – New Beginnings (2017)

Constellation Tatsu

• Drone 
• Ambient 
• Glo-fi 
• Electronic music 
• Musique concrète 
• Dreamwave 
• Organic electronica

Comment: although the issue involves seven different tracks the whole chimes like one lengthy track. More profoundly, you can hear lazily changing yet blissful chords, caressingly ebbing and tiding sea waves and joyous children shrieks from the kitchen garden. At times the chords are deliberately a little bit mutated and used to stumble but it adds an additional value to bring upon a more coherent and organic issue. As I mentioned before it sounds like a lengthy track yet it does not seem to be lengthy in fact because it transcends temporal and space-related dimensions. It is an ennobling experience. There it is, a fabulous issue for a sunny Sunday. The release is a part of the discography of Constellation Tatsu.