Hidden Shoal News
Liminal Drifter “Connected” Out Now!
We are very excited to be able to announce the release of Connected, the stunning fourth album by Perth-based ambient electronica artist Liminal Drifter. The album features new single ‘Choir on Mars‘ which has been tearing up the US college radio charts and currently sits at number two on the US College Chill chart! The album is available now via Bandcamp and all good streaming and digital services such as Spotify, iTunes and Amazon.
Following on from 2018’s wonderfully received The Dreams, Liminal Drifter delivers another suite of mesmeric electronica in his latest outing, Connected. Dripping with dub-inflected rhythms and intricate melodic tapestries, Connected is a collection of eight intangible travelscapes that touch on both the astral and the earthbound. The album’s buoyant and often uplifting electronica belies the conditions under which it was created. Born out of a period of personal trauma, Connected acts as a musical salve and a celebration of important moments. Opener ‘Choir on Mars’ is a playful invitation to enter Liminal Drifter’s bright musical space, its subtly phased electric piano playing against reverberant chords, crisp beats and breathy sampled voices. ‘Braxton’ brings to mind In Sides-era Orbital as it draws you inexorably into its centre. ‘Sheep Radio’ is a happy-to-be-sad slice of daydream-dub electronica, layered with intricate samples and an insistent yet delicate melodic progression. And closing track ‘Atlantean Shaman’ taps into a moody, reflective space, casting a majestic shadow across the preceding 40 minutes of music. The album also features the amazing artwork of Stuart Medley.
“a beautifully choreographed snapshot of the artist’s knack for the surreal, fluid mechanics of mid-90s electronic music shaped with current-era finesse” – Igloo Mag on The Dreams
The music of Liminal Drifter is available for licensing for film, tv, web, games and beyond via Hidden Shoal. Check here for more info.
Markus Mehr’s Sublime New Album “Brief Conversations” Out Now
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of Brief Conversations, the ninth album by German experimental ambient artist Markus Mehr. The album is available now in digital and cassette formats via Bandcamp and digitally via Spotify, iTunes and most other platforms. Also be sure to check out the new music video for album track ‘Relief’ on YouTube.
Brief Conversations is Markus Mehr’s ode to the acoustic properties of the spaces we listen within. High-resolution recordings of rooms acted as the source material, which Mehr then alchemically blended into mesmerising ambient environments, rich with reverberant details. As Mehr explains: “Rooms communicate with us, we can listen to them. Their vocabulary includes their interior, their architecture and their surroundings. The material and arrangement of the walls and their volume determine their resonances and the nature of their reverberation. Thus each room has its own articulation, its own acoustic fingerprint.”
As the mediator between the sounds and their spatial containers, Mehr has exposed a level of granularity we so often ignore, re-shaping the raw materials into immersive new experiences. Despite its challenging conceptual nature, the album is undeniably sensuous and hypnotic, giving up its secrets slowly but surely with repeat listens.
The music of Markus Mehr is available for licensing for film, tv, web, games and beyond via Hidden Shoal. Check here for more info.
Stunning New Glanko Album Released!
Following on from his brilliant 2016 EP with Daniel Bailey, Isometrik, and recent single ‘Vague Hope’, Glanko presents his epic new album of cinematic electronica, Remission. The album is available digitally now (Bandcamp, Spotify, iTunes etc) and for CD pre-order (CD release 19th May) via Bandcamp. Stream the first single, ‘Vague Hope’, via SoundCloud and YouTube.
A musical narrative played out over 12 tracks, Remission is unrelenting in its emotional and visceral grip. Each track acts as a world-builder, with urgent and insistent slices of widescreen noir electronica nestled amongst brooding atmospheric set pieces. Featuring collaborations with Marco Caricola, Kallax and Daniel Bailey, Remission is as transfixing as it is danceable.
“a masterclass in the use of space, poise and timing, a frail and fragile ghost light whose hypnotic lull comes teasingly shimmered in a sparse sleepy headed detailing” – The Sunday Experience on Glanko & Daniel Bailey’s ‘Isometrik’
Glanko is the musical moniker of Italian electronic composer Giuseppe Fallacara. For years, Fallacara played guitar in many bands, before beginning his explorations with electronic music in 2012. His debut album, Alset, was released in 2014. Isometrik, a joint EP with Daniel Bailey, was released on Hidden Shoal in 2016. Second solo album Osmosi was released in 2017. Remission is his third album – and his first full-length solo release for Hidden Shoal. On 22nd February 2020, Glanko will be opening for Janus Rasmussen (one half of Kiasmos with Ólafur Arnalds) at MAT Laboratorio Urbano in Terlizzi, Italy.
The music of Glanko is available for licensing for film, tv, web, games and beyond via Hidden Shoal. Check here for more info.
New Memorybell Track
We’re excited to announce the release of a gorgeous new Memorybell track featured on a compilation from the Colorado Modular Synth Society. The album is available via Bandcamp as a ‘pay what you want.’ ‘Desire Line’ will appear on an LP that releases later this year on Hidden Shoal. In the meantime be sure to check out Memorybell’s stunning 2016 album Obsolete.
Memorybell’s music is available for licensing for film, tv, web, games and beyond via Hidden Shoal. Check here for more info.
Battlestations’ Epic New Album “Inform” Out Now!
Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the release of Inform, the epic new album by enigmatic Belgium project Battlestations. The album is available from Bandcamp, Spotify and a host of other online stores and streamers.
Inform is a six-part instrumental suite, composed to be experienced as a whole. Like all great dramatically charged art, tension and narrative thread throughout the album. The listener is immediately transported into a widescreen, otherworldly landscape, where lush synths create a dense atmospheric field, within which piano and guitar trace out delicate figures in the foreground. Each piece unfolds across five, six, seven minutes at a time, building on the previous track’s ambience and branching forth in fresh directions. From the sprawling synth-strings, electronic pulses and anti-gravity guitars of opener ‘Silencer’, through to the precarious emotional peak of finale ‘L’abîme’, the listener is left with no easy resolution.
“If music can be lovely enough to salvage such a soul from the ravages of hell, then this is it. Orpheus would be proud.” – A Closer Listen on Vixit
The music of Battlestations is available for licensing for film, tv, web, games and beyond via Hidden Shoal. Check here for more info.
Battlestations Remasters and Extended Re-Releases
Battlestations releases remastered version of In a Cold Embrace and a remastered and extended version of Death of the Day. Two stunning releases just got even better. The Death of the Day re-release features an alternate version of the first track, and an unreleased track from the same sessions. Check them both out here.New Battlestations Single, Album Next Week!
Hidden Shoal is excited to present ‘Silencer’, the stunning first track from Inform, the epic forthcoming album by enigmatic Belgium project Battlestations. The track is available to stream via SoundCloud ahead of the album’s release on the 30th of April 2020.
Inform is a six-part instrumental suite, composed to be experienced as a whole. Like all great dramatically charged art, tension and narrative thread throughout the album. The listener is immediately transported into a widescreen, otherworldly landscape, where lush synths create a dense atmospheric field, within which piano and guitar trace out delicate figures in the foreground. Each piece unfolds across five, six, seven minutes at a time, building on the previous track’s ambience and branching forth in fresh directions. From the sprawling synth-strings, electronic pulses and anti-gravity guitars of opener ‘Silencer’, through to the precarious emotional peak of finale ‘L’abîme’, the listener is left with no easy resolution.
“If music can be lovely enough to salvage such a soul from the ravages of hell, then this is it. Orpheus would be proud.” – A Closer Listen on Vixit
The music of Battlestations is available for licensing for film, tv, web, games and beyond via Hidden Shoal. Check here for more info.
Rewilding “Rain Patch” Album Out Now
Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the official release of Rain Patch, the new album from US based experimental pop project Rewilding. The album is available now in digital and cassette formats via Bandcamp and the new music video for album track ‘Fjord’s End’ on is streaming on YouTube.
Following on from 2017’s self-titled debut album, Rain Patch continues Rewilding’s exploration of the neglected, dusty spaces found between lo-fi indie-pop, post-rock and film soundtracks. While there are the obvious recent touchstones, such as Fridge, Beak and Olivia Tremor Control, and the less obvious, such as the soundtrack to cult 1980s sci-fi movie Liquid Sky, Rain Patch mines a primitive yet mesmerising vein of instrumental music in which process and result are intimately entwined. The songs on Rain Patch are their own ecosystems, requiring the listener to step inside to fully experience their vivid details.
This ecological analogy extends to the process of the album’s creation. In 2017 Jake McFee relocated to Glacier Bay, Alaska, where much of the album was conceived and recorded. Given the limitations of not being able to transport all the studio equipment he used on previous Rewilding music, he wrote and recorded many of the original ideas using small, portable instruments such as hand percussion, glockenspiel, acoustic guitar and mini Korg synths. The summers were spent at Glacier Bay, while winters were spent back in Philadelphia, where he was able to overdub drums and electric guitars. Between 2017 and 2019, the songs evolved into the forms heard on Rain Patch, as McFee reckoned with his experience of witnessing the pristine wilderness of Glacier Bay being transformed by climate change.
The music of Rewilding is available for licensing for film, tv, web, games and beyond via Hidden Shoal. Check here for more info.
New Liminal Drifter Single and Music Video!
Hidden Shoal is excited to present ‘Choir on Mars’, the first single from Connected, the fourth album by Perth-based ambient electronica artist Liminal Drifter. The track is also accompanied by a wonderful music video from Perth based video artist dQ Video. Stream the track via SoundCloud , watch the video over at YouTube and download at Bandcamp. Connected will see release on May 29th 2020.
Following on from 2018’s wonderfully received The Dreams, Liminal Drifter delivers another suite of mesmeric electronica in his latest outing, Connected. Dripping with dub-inflected rhythms and intricate melodic tapestries, Connected is a collection of eight intangible travelscapes that touch on both the astral and the earthbound. The album’s buoyant and often uplifting electronica belies the conditions under which it was created. Born out of a period of personal trauma, Connected acts as a musical salve and a celebration of important moments. Opener ‘Choir on Mars’ is a playful invitation to enter Liminal Drifter’s bright musical space, its subtly phased electric piano playing against reverberant chords, crisp beats and breathy sampled voices. ‘Braxton’ brings to mind In Sides-era Orbital as it draws you inexorably into its centre. ‘Sheep Radio’ is a happy-to-be-sad slice of daydream-dub electronica, layered with intricate samples and an insistent yet delicate melodic progression. And closing track ‘Atlantean Shaman’ taps into a moody, reflective space, casting a majestic shadow across the preceding 40 minutes of music.
“a beautifully choreographed snapshot of the artist’s knack for the surreal, fluid mechanics of mid-90s electronic music shaped with current-era finesse” – Igloo Mag on The Dreams
New Markus Mehr Track and Video – ‘Mount Devil’
Hidden Shoal is excited to present the first track lifted from Brief Conversations, the forthcoming ninth album by German experimental ambient artist Markus Mehr. ‘Mount Devil’ is available now to stream via SoundCloud with it’s accompanying video available on YouTube. Brief Conversations will see release on the 12th May 2020 in digital and cassette formats.
Brief Conversations is Markus Mehr’s ode to the acoustic properties of the spaces we listen within. High-resolution recordings of rooms acted as the source material, which Mehr then alchemically blended into mesmerising ambient environments, rich with reverberant details. As Mehr explains: “Rooms communicate with us, we can listen to them. Their vocabulary includes their interior, their architecture and their surroundings. The material and arrangement of the walls and their volume determine their resonances and the nature of their reverberation. Thus each room has its own articulation, its own acoustic fingerprint.”
As the mediator between the sounds and their spatial containers, Mehr has exposed a level of granularity we so often ignore, re-shaping the raw materials into immersive new experiences. Despite its challenging conceptual nature, the album is undeniably sensuous and hypnotic, giving up its secrets slowly but surely with repeat listens.
The music of Markus Mehr is available for licensing for film, tv, web, games and beyond via Hidden Shoal. Check here for more info.