SUZANNE KRAFT Schallplatten & CDs

Review: The latest release on Jonny Nash's Melody As Truth label sees Los Angeles-based talent Diego Herrera come forth with a new album under his familiar Suzanne Kraft moniker. It is of course just one of several projects the West Coast artist is involved in (Pharoahs, Dude Energy, Blase being several others) but the overall sunkissed, melodically rich sound he brings to them all make him a perfect fit for Melody As Truth. The seven tracks on Talk From Home were recorded over a few weeks in the winter of 2014, and feature Herrera playing guitar alongside more familiar synth tones in a mood that stays resolutely mellow from start to finish. Its three releases deep for Nash's label now and all of them have been sublime.

Review: Los Angeleno in Amsterdam Diego Herrera aka Suzanne Kraft returns to Jonny Nash's (Gaussian Curve) brilliant Melody As Truth for a second full length entitled, "What You Get For Being Young". Recorded in his new hometown over the course of May 2016, he LP provides some wonderful ambient soundscapes; said to be composed using mainly digital synthesis and creating a musical world to truly lose yourself in. As the label out it best themselves, the album "offers a full immersion into Kraft's ever-evolving world."

Review: Back in 2011, Gerd Janson's Running Back introduced many people to the music LA producer Diego Herrera makes as Suzanne Kraft with the Green Flash EP that was as vivid in presentation as it was in tone. You'll be hearing a lot from Diego Herrera this year, with some high profile collaborative releases with Secret Circuit on the way; an album as Blase on ESP Institute and an Odd Numbers hookup with Willie Burns for Rush Hour's No 'Label'. Before all that, Gerd Janson welcomes Herrera, er, back into the fold with this vinyl issue of the Missum CDr that introduced the Suzanne Kraft project back in 2010. In contrast to the disco-tinged house music of the aforementioned Green Flash EP, the seven tracks on Missum take on a more experimental tone, with beats largely absent in favour of some heavily textured ambient soundscapes produced with a Tascam 464 Portastudio four-track recorder.

Review: Downtempo dream team Jonny Nash and Suzanne Kraft join forces once more for another excursion far out to sea. Their ambient soundscapes are as lush as they come and are the perfectly transportive sounds we need right now. From mellow and melancholic piano chords to meandering synth lines there is lots to get lost in here, always with a real sense of slowly unfolding narrative and deep sense of immersion. The tenderness of this duo seems to know no bounds as they continue to find truly moving beauty in the most minimal of compositions.

Review: Given the increasing number of shared releases by Jonny Nash and Suzanne Kraft, it was probably inevitable that the pair would eventually join forces in the studio. Predictably, this first collaborative album for Nash's Melody as Truth label is a woozy, intricate and evocative ambient treat. Largely built around plucked notes of Nash's guitar, blissful synthesizer lines and occasional heartfelt piano flourishes, it largely feels like a cross between 1970s ambient material and more contemporary beat-less electronica. In other words, it combines elements familiar from their separate solo project to present something that sums up both artists' approach to ambient composition.

Review: Jonny Nash's Melody Is Truth label has barely put a foot wrong to date, with the ambient imprint serving up a steady stream of atmospheric, sun-kissed treats. The label's latest missive marks its' first foray into the 7" market, and contains a track apiece from Nash and similarly minded artist Suzanne Kraft. While the latter's woozy, melancholic and gently whistling "Roberto & Giovanni" sounds like a brilliant cross between Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street" and the producer's own take on ambient, it's Nash's A-side, "Cristina & Carolina", that really impresses. Full of his trademark, lilting mid-western guitar lines, echoing audio textures and shuffling, bossa-influenced beats, it's nothing less than audible sunshine.

Review: They say good things come to those who wait. Suso Saiz has been waiting more than a generation for Suzanne Kraft to come along and re-contextualise his work. Finally, then, acclaimed new age guitarist who emerged through the La Orquesta de las Nubes and Musica Esporadica projects, meets his match with the precise but organic sound designs of one of electronic music's finest contemporaries, and the result is magnificent.

The whole thing feels like it should be heard in some kind of sensory deprivation tank - floating on the water's surface, blissfully allowing the drones, tones, chords and loose harmonies to wash our minds. Of course work like "Beloved Din" comes with more of a determined impact, its tribal drums and woodwind accents creating an otherworldly vibe, or at least a sense of the exotic. For the most part, though, this is lush, tranquil, mystical and wholly inviting stuff.