Two Acorns Schallplatten & CDs

Review: We were full of praise for Will Long AKA Celer's recent quadruple-album set, "Future Predictions". In our review we also pointed out that his back catalogue is worth investigating, though his prolific nature can make it hard to know where to start. Helpfully Two Acorns has come to the rescue by offering up this reissue of one of his earliest - and still most potent - sets. "Scols" was initially self-released in 2006 as part of a double CD-R set, and was made alongside his then partner, the sadly departed Danielle Baquet-Long. The album effectively drew up the blueprint for much of Long's later work, delivering immersive ambient soundscapes built around layers of tape loops that together sound like swelling orchestral movements.

Review: Many missed out on Sadha when it was first released in 2007, largely because it was self-released in very limited quantities by Celer's Will Long and his then life partner Danielle Baquet-Long. This, then, is arguably the album's first "proper" release. It's well-worth checking, not least became it remains one of Long and Baquet-Long's most magical and timeless joint works. For proof, check the heart-aching ambient melancholia of 'Sans Heavens, Hand In Hand', where processed choral voices and bittersweet, synthesized orchestral movements ebb and flow across the sound space, and the simply stunning 'The Once Emptiness of Our Hearts' - a 55-minute piece of immersive ambient whose emotional resonance is little less than stunning.

Review: Recently Will Long has been offering up freshly remastered reissues of some of his earliest work as Celer, including numerous self-released sets he made with his original studio partner, Danielle Baquet-Long. The latest to get this treatment is Cantus Libres, a double-disc suite of lengthy tracks that has long been one of the most hard-to-find sets in Celer's discography. Sitting somewhere between ambient and drone, much of the material is built around rising and falling, swelling and gently pulsing musical movements. While almost entirely electronic and crafted from densely layered, effects-laden synthesizer chords and textures, it's almost neo-classical in its use of cinematic sweeps and emotive, slow-release melodies. Thanks to a superb remastering job, it also now sounds more attractive than ever before.