o[rlawren] - Poiesis (DRONARIVM) [Ambient]

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

Discovering Orla Wren this week was long overdue considering he’s got a twenty year history of ambient endeavour; perhaps it’s more of a reflection on my relative late arrival to the genre? Born in the north of England, but now based up in southern Scotland, he works at “the intersections between sound, visual artforms, technology, science and incorporating interests in ecology, experimental geographies, resonant landscapes, site-specific sound installations and sensory immersion.” I’ve read a few such manifestos and quite often the reality never sounds as good as the theory, but on quick back catalogue inspection he seems to have quite the way with intimate and melodic electroacoustic works, which is mostly where my ambient heart lies.

I probably overuse the word otherworldly whist reviewing, I’ll question my psychiatrist if I ever get one if I’m using music as an Anthropocene escape mechanism, but I’m rolling it out again for Poiesis, which according to the release notes is, “a continuation in the artists ongoing research into modular synthesis and field recordings, informed by and in collaboration with the works ‘we wander in circles through the night and are consumed by fire’ and ‘physis’ by Portuguese photographer Carina Martins and the author Rui Ibañez Matoso.“ 

Electronic music sounded like the future forty years ago but now just sounds modern, yet Wren through his sonic palette and machine manipulation has managed to rectify that situation with his unusual synth sounds, found and handmade recordings and oddball effects, coupled with his idiosyncratic sonic detailing. Hidden in the electronic mists are dulcimer, wooden whistle, dilruba, clarinet and piano, but good luck with immediately recognising them most of the time. Machine sounds ape the dawn chorus, electronic static sounds like rain and synth tones intimate alien insect interactions with flora light years from here. Or is it the other way round? It’s a deep plugged in, hand crafted, ridiculously detailed journey through the minutia of an imaginary ecosystem, and a welcome temporary reprieve from reality.

I should also mention that he simultaneously released another, more restless, somewhat uneasier LP, also on the ever excellent Dronarivm ambient label, so if this one grabs you then you know where to go.

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Playlist Companion

Find o[rlawren] in the Slow Ambient Playlist.