Reviews

Fringes of Sound

In the latest work from London-based artist Wil Bolton, we become engaged in a landscape that combines serene pads fortified by field recordings with all manner of synthetic sounds that range from smooth to scattered and crushed along with airy guitars and keys. Supporting all of this are smooth bass hits that bring a certain thickness to these otherwise wispy and faint sounds that characterize the album. All of this coming together gives a certain introspective feeling to the work as though we are fittingly swept along on a journey through a cloudy space of memory and reflection. 

The album opens us with the sound of wind sweeping a tarpaulin around as the spacious pads slowly creep in, setting the appropriate mood for the title of the album, Swept. As the last ringing pad fades away, we slowly move into "Frame of Reference" with the light synthetic keys twinkling softly among a deep bass note repeating it self to assure that it is heard as the heavily reverberated guitar notes creep in. A similar theme plays out in the next track "Bindweed" although this time the twinkling keys are replaced by a slightly crushed and distorted synth line that plucks along slightly awkwardly, providing a beautiful contrast to the pads that under-gird the track. These synthetic soundscapes keep us traveling on through the remainder of the album, even through the final track until the very end in which we hear the cheery song of the birds, hearkening better times for the future. 

Original > HERE

OrganWil Bolton – Swept (Audiobulb) – Swept, we are told, “is an exploration of emotional turbulence, resilience and rejuvenation. Created with electric guitar, modular and analogue synthesizers and pedals, most of the sounds were recorded at the start of the global pandemic. The album is bookended with field recordings made from the artist’s garden in East London. It opens with the sound of tarpaulin sheets on a neighbouring construction site swept by heavy winds during Storm Ciara, shortly before the first UK lockdown, and closes with the sound of birdsong after rainfall, signalling hope for better times..”

If there is emotional turbulence, then it is rather peaceful, reflective, outwardly beautiful turbulence – peacefully mellow, refined, almost glowing with that hope Will Bolton talks of. Slow moving, never heavy in any sense of the term, always a pleasure, dense but never too dense, just the right (light) consistency, a perfectly basked cake. The kind of cake that requires no effort in terms of the person eating it or listening to it or letting it flow around them. It may or may not be a piece of work that is part of a visual experience,we are dealing with the audio here though, and in terms of an album, a body of work, a collection of pieces music, this has depth, it has substance, it invites you in and holds you there in a most rewarding manner, this is beautifully warm…     

“Wil Bolton is a London-based artist and musician. He makes predominantly sound-based artworks for both CD releases and installations, often enhanced with video or photography. His audio work uses guitars, acoustic instruments, vintage keyboards and effects to create warm and emotive melodies, fragmented and submerged among beds of droning ambient textures and environmental sounds.” More via Bandcamp

Original > HERE

Headphone CommuteAudiobulb‘s press release for Swept describes Wil Bolton as “a London-based artist whose work uses synthesizers, guitars, acoustic instruments and effects to create warm and emotive melodies, fragmented and submerged among beds of droning ambient textures and environmental sounds.” But when it comes to understanding all that is Wil Bolton (and his music, of course), one realizes that trying to capture it all with these adjectives and nouns is a futile attempt (sorry, David). Take away other factual pointers of time and place, and suddenly the organic ambience around us could be conveyed with slow-moving sounds emanating from our modular synthesizers, plucked and bowed string instruments and field recordings that somehow engage the mind with the minute details of the sonic phenomena. And yet, Bolton’s aesthetic in compositional-meets-accidental performance is very much unique and, indeed, very special. If you traverse his immense discography with records appearing on numerous labels, including Home Normal, Hidden Vibes, Krysalisound, Hibernate, Eilean Rec., Dronarivm and Sound In Silence, among the many, you will begin to understand that organic, atmospheric, and textural sound that appeals so much to my ears, and, clearly, Ian Hawgood‘s who has mastered this album and scheduled a few upcoming releases on his label as well. In the wake of the post-pandemic world, Swept is a slowly unfurling collection of pieces exploring “emotional turbulence, resilience and rejuvenation” that comes into our lives as we face this new reality. But all of these are still mere words, and to truly appreciate Wil Bolton’s artistry, you must listen to his music.

Original > HERE

The Slow Music MovementWil Bolton is one of those remarkable ambient artists with a lot to say - regularly releasing via the genre's finest labels, whilst consistently holding down the quality & managing to cover a lot of stylistic terrain. His latest LP via Audiobulb packs an incredible array of guitar, synth, nature & human generated sonic minutia into a stunning soundtrack to the recent age of virus. It's possibly the third wave of musical pandemic reaction, with the (mask free) breathing space allowing for a more reflective, ultimately positive take. Those global shockwaves, mass denial, slow acceptance, hardship, stoicism, hope & today's tentative relief have never sounded as good. Headphones recommended.

Original > HERE

Silence and SoundQuelques mois à peine après la sortie de Like Floating Leaves, Wil Bolton revient avec un album à l’élégance subtile, construisant des atmosphères aériennes où chaque élément trouve sa place le plus naturellement du monde.

Les sonorités organiques et électroniques se marient sans heurt, laissant échapper dans l’espace des notes à la légèreté toubillonnante.

Swept est une invitation à la rêverie, voyage en lévitation dans une dimension à la dérive, instant de grâce à coups de courbes arc-en-ciel et de cieux ouverts sur un ailleurs resplendissant à l’infinie sérénité.

Mais attention, Swept n’est pas un album lisse, cachant entre ses notes, des chemins de traverse aux déviances éclatantes, étalement de pierres et de sables sur des tissus de soie aux motifs froissés. Poésie en mouvement surgie de dimensions rayonnantes. Magique.

Original > HERE