conduits | EP | review
On this warm Tuesday in the midwest, good morning; I hope your coffee is fresh, your morning slow, and your day ahead encouraging.
This morning we’re going to spend some time with conduits by Be Still the Earth; before we get started, I highly recommend using your favorite streaming service to listen along. Otherwise, it’s free to stream right here on bandcamp. Marshall is one of my favorite ambient artists in the meditative/cinematic space right now; his work has deeply influenced my own. There’s a warmth that runs through everything he creates, and conduits is no exception.
From the first track, this EP is a soft one. It fills the space around you, slows down time a little bit, and offers rest. The opener, a hush, a glow represents the intent of the EP very well. Deep chords come and go, piano loops give it texture, and the 3.5 minutes float right on by. Sequencing (determining the order that tracks play in) a musical body of work is important, as evidenced by the transition here from track 1 into track 2; fluentia begins slowly, creating a slow trance space to enter into. The movement is even more subtle here, with its humming, gentle pads. From beginning to end, each track offers something a little different, but familiar enough, over its just under 20 minute duration.
Tracks
a hush, a glow
- My personal favorite of the EP, with its warmly chaotic piano loops, humming chord movements, and beautifully evocative name.
fluentia
- Soft, slow, and still. This one creates a wonderful contrast to the opening track in the way it creates a floating, drifting stillness to sit in.
pertranseo
- Per various internet sources, pertranseo is Latin for `to go or pass through.` Aptly named, this track feels like a journey. If you haven’t listened to moon balloon, this would fit right in there. Lilting piano loops over a gently pulsing bass create a vast, sleepy soundscape with layer upon layer of distant notes; it reminds me of the night sky.
air & ash
- I’ve already had this track on quite a bit, as it was the leading single for the EP. The immediate detail here is the tape whine of the leading loop, which I would describe as wistful, or pleasantly mysterious. The fade at the end of this track has a specific beauty to it.
pertranseo (slower headspace)
- Unless my ears deceive me, I believe this is a slowed version of pertrenseo. I’ve slowed a few tracks in my time, as it’s a useful tool for adding more depth and space to a track. I enjoy both versions here.
a vessel
- This track features the lovely Lina and Max of Center of Attention. It takes a notably different tone than the rest of the EP, but in a way that caps off the experience well. Still restful, still gentle, but perhaps inviting the listener to consider what’s next. The interplay of melodies has an almost conversational feel to it. I like long tracks, but this one says exactly what it needs to say in its 2 minutes and 14 seconds.
You may have noticed the type of words I’ve been using here: soft, gentle, slow, restful; Marshall’s work is masterful in creating this kind of space. Not all ambient music is created for the same purpose, as its just another genre with intangible qualities that are somewhat subjective. That said, I’m always drawn to ambient music like this that creates that space (a betweenspace, if you will) in which you I can pause and get lost in the textures across a vast soundscape. conduits provides this experience, for which I am thankful. I hope it can do that for you, too. Get some headphones, pause your notifications, and find somewhere beautiful to sit and soak up some noise for 20 minutes. Your mind, body, and soul will thank you. Speaing of thanks, thank you for being here.