For me the key to successful ambient/experimental music is the ability of the artist to create a credible alternate world or ‘other place’ that the listener can enjoy exploring guided by the sounds the artist creates. Sometimes these can be revealed through light sketches (e.g. Eno’s ‘Music for Films’), by dramatic strokes of a broad brush (e.g. FSOL/Amorphous Androgynous) or with subtly contrasting tones and textures (e.g. Boards of Canada).
It’s the latter approach that LAWRENCE (a.k.a Hamburg resident Peter M Kirtsen, not the Felt/Denim maestro) adopts for his third album ‘The Night Will Last Forever’ and his first for the experimental/outré Mute offshoot, NovaMute. Like Susumu Yokota (with whose music this also shares parallels), Lawrence is a DJ who plays more mainstream House/Dance music and like his Japanese musical cousin has adapted the rhythmic patterns and melodic signatures from the higher tempo regimes for a more low-key, left-field affair.
His music seems to divide itself into three main patterns. The first covers the rhythm of a piece where he places a firm but discreet emphasis on Deep House drum and, in particular, bass patterns. The second caters for rich swathes of synthetic washes and strokes that add depth and warmth to the whole process. Finally, there are the experimental/freeform/jazz inflected patterns of keyboard flourishes that lift everything head and shoulders above the output of the (majority) myopic practitioners who fail to convince that this music has infinite potential when embraced by a true visionary.
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Tracks such as the heavenly melodic ‘Swap’ (also the single), the Vangelis/Blade Runner-esque ‘Falling Down A Dam Of Mashed Potatoes’ and the subdued ‘Leave Me Tomorrow’ are special pieces of ambient beauty. Their light touch act as a counterpoint to the more beat-oriented/down-tempo work-outs such as the soulful ‘Happy Sometimes’, the dubby ‘Attracted By Fire’ and the free-spirited ‘The Lawn’ (which also carries echoes of Orbital).
Skilfully LAWRENCE blends these individual tracks together to form a coherent whole and in doing so creates a free-flowing perpetual dream-state to satisfy mind, body and soul.
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