Kid Smpl - Finding the Sky(Hush Hush)
- The Slow Music Movement
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's May 26th Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***
Kid Smpl is a new name to me, but his label Hush Hush has been one of my ambient guides since I started dabbling in the genre. Alex Ruder not only expertly curates the label, but also hosts one of the most respected ambient radio shows around on KEXP, and if you want another Bandcamp tip then follow his fan account. He’s an avid/obsessive (delete as applicable) ambient digger and will pretty much single handedly keep you updated with the genres new and notable releases and introduce you to all the right artists and labels. Following him was a real gateway to the genre for me, and I still pick up tips this way to this day.
Apparently Kid Smpl released his debut release on Hush Hush and thirteen years later has decided to drop this loose follow-up to highlight his sonic evolution. Looking back it turns out that Smpl was actually a bit of a Hush Hush mainstay, responsible for the label’s first three releases, which on cursory listen swerve between atmospheric downtempo and more energetic electronic beats. So where’s his head at all these years later?
Perhaps he’s mellowing with age, but those beats have been left in a club somewhere, replaced with a decidedly modern ambient sound, that still retains a cultured ethereal sensibility. There are vocals for starters, oddly uncredited considering they’re quite prominent on several tracks, that either float in from another room, leap out at you from a closet or drift through the autotune plug-in for a pop makeover. Urban field recordings provide real world texture to the ambient electronics which vary in style from massage chair soundtracks and wispy tones, to more forceful, but still low key cinematic swoops.
The arrangements patiently build despite the short duration of some of the tracks, nothing is hurried, just as it should be in the ambient world, sound sources known and guessed are all precision placed and tracks expertly sequenced to form a compelling story that glides seamlessly from one chapter to the next, telling sedate urban tales that will appeal to the ambient progressives and maybe even more adventurous mainstream listeners. Several tracks are certainly well suited to my, admittedly leftfield, Ambient Pop Playlist.
Playlist Companion
Find Kid Smpl in the Ambient Pop Playlist:
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