Anna Phoebe - Midnight Sessions (Eat The Peach) [Ambient Neoclassical]

Some artists can seemingly do it all, and the violin virtuoso, composer, producer, performer, and broadcaster Anna Phoebe is right up near the head of the table. Although, as with most classical musicians, she’s comfortable in somewhat stuffier orchestral realms, she seems more at home exploring the endless possibilities of her ancient instrument by collaborating with artists from different genres, exploring the modern condition via bowed strings, and pushing electroacoustic boundaries with some decidedly forward-looking, electronic and experimental fusions, that have seen her teaming up with fellow sonic seer Mary Anne Hobbs. If that wasn’t enough, she also composes music for screens of varying size, co-hosts a national radio show and tours all over the world.

Phoebe's latest release, the Midnight Sessions EP, is a curiously Bandcamp-only release, with currently only Midnight Sessions II (Unravel) being widely available on streaming - all the more reason to tune in to the burgeoning Bandcamp underground, and sees her at her progressive best.

The EP leaves the classical tropes and tired homages to long-dead composers at the electronic studio door, ignores the musician's union staffing advice, and instead dusts off the digital workstation to go on a solo mission to float her largely abstract string sounds into the world on a bed of graceful ambient creations. The aptly entitled "Between Worlds" eases us out of this tiring and tired world, into rarefied but still earthly connected ambient territory, the violin just beholden by gravity and in recognisable, if minimal and elongated, forms. The, again well-named, "Unravel" then continues to unwind the instrument's more familiar sounds into fleeting nods to the past that initially spiral upwards and outwards in gaseous eruptions before assisting the electronic engines with some cinematic thrust, as the EP breaks through the atmosphere, revelling in the now gravity-free surrounds and gradually building in intensity.

"Divergence" is a melancholic affair, the strings seemingly homesick for friends, family, and familiarity, but the electronic brain gently reminding her that escaping the overheating planet was the only course of action. "Submerged" is the point of no return; our intrepid adventurer now immersed, quite possibly lost, in deep ambient space; the violin seemingly forgotten, or at least processed beyond recognition, replaced by a space-siren-like voice in the distance for social comfort. Finally, the EP arrives at a new "Dawn": uncharted territory traversed and introspection, doubt and regret suddenly replaced with hope for the future, as a water and air-blessed, verdant planet, warmed by two suns, comes into view; a happy ending to this accomplished ambient neoclassical voyage.

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Playlist Companion

Find Phoebe in the Slow Neoclassical Playlist.