Coming soon: Ambient/Drone

Review: Harold Budd and Clive Wright craft a rich new suite, standing well apart from their previous collaboration A Song for Lost Blossoms. More structured yet still full of surprises, this one ties instrumental delicacy - harp, strings, drums - round a striking sonic collage echoing traditional Japanese compositions, 60s British film music, and vestal Renaissance music motifs. Listeners familiar with Budd's work may find echoes of Avalon Sutra in its meditative, luminous quality. Wright - meanwhile known for his work with pop rockers Cock Robin, Tears for Fears and Peter Gabriel - presses "go" on an instrumental, textural refinery, him being the one-man factory. Recorded at Desert Sky Studio in Joshua Tree, the album features contributions from Patti Hood, George Zelenz, and Ray Woods, with cover art by Billy Al Bengston.

Review: Concurrent with their new collaboration Candylion, Darla now also reissue the last Harold Budd and Clive Wright album, A Song For Lost Blossoms, described by the label as a suite of ambient melody and "transcendental mood portals". Cobbled together from from intimate home sessions, as well as performances at Redcat in LA, and Clive Wright's Desert Sky Studio in Joshua Tree, these works span 2004 to 2006, and represent the finest moments in their collaboration, with Anna LaCazio lending her voice to the title track, reciting her original poem of the same name as the album's title. Budd, often hailed "The Godfather of Ambient Music," has shaped and shaken the genre's foundations, while Wright, a founding member of US pop rock band Cock Robin, brings a deep textural sensibility honed through work with artists like Tears for Fears and Peter Gabriel. The Southern California desert's vast stillness and surreal magnanimity resonate throughout, arresting the sound in an asperous expanse.