Portable Aka Bodycode - Augmented Dreams (African Ambient Edition) [Circus Company] [Ambient]

A nomadic South African currently roaming Europe, Portable is showing a similar restlessness with his creations. On his new EP he surgically removes the 4/4 foundations from his recent (& excellent) LP for Circus Company, transforming the dancefloor designs into unsleeping, unignorable undulating soundscapes fit for a new generation of ambient warriors, who aren't quite ready for the more established, palliative ambient wellness centers.

What The Release Notes Say

Portable aka Alan Abrahams returns to French imprint Circus Company with the EP Augmented Dreams African Ambient Edition, a companion piece to 2023’s homonymous cyberpunk-themed album .

For Portable fans, Augmented Dreams African Ambient Edition might seem like a complete change of style for the artist. By eschewing the classical route of a remix album, Abrahams embarks on an introspective journey across the four tracks, reimagining some of his beloved techno-pop anthems through an ambient lens.

Boldly subtitled African Ambient Edition, the EP is a continuation of Abrahams’s creative journey by exploring his own personal vocabulary within the ambient realm, while taking cues from his favourite artists of the genre such as the late Phill Niblock, Brian Eno and Ballaké Sissoko. For the occasion, Abrahams coined the term African Ambient not as a political statement but as a way of signalling his uniquely African approach.

“African Ambient is my interpretation of ambient music as a South African”, he says. “[for this release] I’ve blended traditional African rhythms with ambient elements, creating a harmonious, culturally rich musical landscape that reflects my upbringing, experiences and transcends geographical boundaries.”

Starting by taking out all of the beats, Abrahams processed the remaining sounds through various effects and audio from his library, while trying to hear them from a different perspective that would bring forth unexpected facets of the tracks.

Take opener “The Pull of Time (African Ambient)” for example - where the original was a piano-driven techno ballad reminiscent of Hercules and Love Affair, in the ambient version he strips down the song to its basic melody, replacing the subtle percussion with heavenly pads and the vocals with ghostly intonations, while adding surprising new synth modulations. The result is an elegant, cinematic journey as the track turns into a brand new yet somewhat familiar soundscape, filled with complex textures, ethereal melodies and evocative harmonies.

Tracks such as the moody instrumental “The Color of Static” reveal an even darker side under the ambient treatment, morphing into a spacey, gothic lullaby of blurred edges and vast, reverberating imaginary spaces.

Sharing the same DNA despite their differences, Augmented Dreams African Ambient Edition invites the listener to delve deeper into the depths of the original album. Harmoniously playing off each other, their symbiotic interaction proves that every dancefloor needs a chill out room. 

Credits

Written, produced and mixed by Alan Abrahams

Strings arrangement and performance on ‘The Pull of Time’ and ‘I Need You’ by Alexey Kochetkov

Bass on ‘I Need You’ by Kitsch Kub

Mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering, New York

Artwork by République Studio

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Playlist Companion

For more chilled electronic music check the Slowtronic Playlist.