Andert Tysma - Savoy, for Rajshri (Apollo Records) [Ambient]

I can't think of any other ambient artists, or even music-releasing musicians for that matter, who are also medical doctors, and his demanding day job makes Andert Tysma's ambitious, beautifully realised single, not to mention two previous albums with a third on the way for the evergreen Apollo Records, all the more impressive; although considering ambient music's soothing, possibly palliative qualities, it's a wonder why more medical practitioners aren't exploring the intersection of music and medical science with practical experiments.

Having studied music before switching to medicine, and originally having lived in Amsterdam, before moving to Berlin, Tysma hasn't always made life easy for himself, but he's certainly embraced the changes and maximised their potential, and it appears this love of a challenge extends to conceptualising and creating music. With a genre-fluid approach to composition, an array of electronic and acoustic tools, and some help from musician friends, he is well placed to realise his forthcoming album that is centred around the idea that, "every life consists of the choices we make as well as the possibilities we leave behind..... each piece capturing where Tysma finds himself on a given moment in his life, and at a point also shaped by everything that came before". A concept, having given it some serious thought in my time, that I can certainly get behind.

"Savoy, for Rajshri" is the first single to tease this new album, and it's a subtly bittersweet, ultimately philosophical reflection on the "intensity of love, which can never truly be held", and at nine minutes long, it's a suitably lengthy meditation on this age-old theme, and thankfully more considered than most.

The track starts unassumingly enough; a musical twinkle in the eye as it were, Tysma's light touch on the piano's skin and a faint, cautiously optimistic, ambient awakening, echoing real-life affairs of the heart; man and machine walking down the street hand in hand for four minutes, wondering what is, and what could be? Eventually, the second passage arrives, announced by glistening, wide-eyed modular notes, and augmented by a sax whisper from Maarten Hogenhuis that is floated through the soundscape by classical nodding synths which hint at stirred emotions and romantic ideals sparring with life's inevitable hurdles and emotional distractions.

Will love prevail, or fade away? Was it better to have loved and lost, or never to have loved before? You have nine, beautifully soundtracked minutes to decide, but I recommend that you hit repeat and take your time; true love is more about dedication and persistence than rash decisions, and some things can never be undone or forgotten.

If this ambient piano gem needs more company, then perhaps head over to Polaroid Notes' Quiet Rooms album, on the ever reliable Whitelabrecs.

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Playlist Companion

Find Tysma in the Slow Ambient Playlist.