M. Sage - Tender / Wading (RVNG Intl) (RVNG Intl.)[Ambient]

*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's October 16th Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***

Matthew Sage is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and intermedia artist, not to mention a great writer. I’ve been following his singular, more produced than played sonic visions for a while, he’s one of those rare artists I tend towards, who defy easy comparison and description.

Adversity is a creative and musical catalyst, and things took an interesting turn with 2020’s locked down and strictly online collaborative project Fuubutsushi, which resulted in a much more recognisable compositional and “musical” turn when he teamed up Chris Jusell’s violin, Chaz Prymek’s guitar and Patrick Shiroishi’s sax and wind prowess to augment his keyboards, voice and field recordings. It also set the bar very high for the myriad online collaborations happening at the time; few got anywhere near.

Tender / Wading is almost a solo extension of the Fuubutsushi project. Probably encouraged by the pandemic Sage has returned to the Colorado pastures of his youth, a setting which shines through in the pastoral vibes and sounds, real or intimated, that seep through the speakers. He also seems to have learned the clarinet recently and it’s a welcome addition to his fragile found sounds and thoughtful piano, guitar, accordion, synth and percussion work.

Setting the scene nicely is “The Garden Spot”, the sounds of insects soon overwhelming the electrical hum which accompanies the borderline twee clarinet, guitar and bells in a way that could only come from a man content with his life choices. “Witch Grass” is a good natured slice of gently trotting lounge music with otherworldly synth undertones. “Chinook’s” flute adds a new age, beatific aura to the percussive noise and breezy layered clarinet.

“Wading the Plain” is a soporific electroacoustic soundscape which lulls you to sleep before the relatively uptempo minimal meets jazz folk burst of “Open Space Properties” pokes you in the ribs with an impish wink. Energy dissipated, “Telegraph Weed Waltz” and “Fracking Starlite” then massage your temples once more, but get prepared for the glitching, scratchy, edgy ambient jazz of “ Field House Deer (Mice)“ which undoes the previous head rubs, but makes the album closing, cosmos contemplating “Tender of the Land” even more of a wobbling, undulating, lysergic new age treat.

---

Playlist Companion

Find Sage in the Slow Ambient Playlist.