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Cairn
In Cairn, Düngfelder’s focus on atmosphere and perception meets Beaudoin’s concern with time and memory, creating a dialogue where each sound becomes a trace left for the other to follow. What remains is a series of sonic markers, small monuments to attention, letting listeners linger on in the fragile continuations of sound.
Credits
- Music composed by Paul Beaudoin (Tallinn, Estonia) and Jeff Düngfelder (Weatogue, Connecticut)
- Mixed & Mastered at the Hopmeadow Studio, Weatogue, Connecticut
- Paul Beaudoin: https://linktr.ee/PaulBeaudoin
- Jeff Düngfelder: www.umlaut.work
Tracklisting:
- Sacred Inukuit
- Amaranthine
- Still Point
- Shadow of Light
- Me Before You
- Sea Marks
- Continuous Thread
- Unfettered
- Intentions of Grace
- Pathkeeper
- Aju
- Spirit Dreams
- Spectra
- Vestiges
Paul Beaudoin + Ümlaut
For Paul Beaudoin, sound unfolds like thought taking shape in time. His work traces the thresholds between hearing and remembering, where tones blur and stillness collapses into the echo of memory. Drawing from acoustic and electronic sources, he builds soundscapes that encourage the listener to sense how meaning gathers and disintegrates through the act of listening. Each piece offers a quiet architecture of concentration, inviting us to dwell within the fragile persistence of sound.
In Ümlaut's (aka Jeff Düngfelder) work, textures rarely stop, they linger. Layers of field recordings and electronic atmospheres drift and fuse until motion becomes still. His compositions observe how the world hums beneath its surface: wind caught in wires, the grain of passing air, a memory replayed through static. Working from a minimal palette, he shapes textures that feel both intimate and vast, allowing listeners to encounter a landscape where everything moves, yet nothing hurries. Each piece is a quiet act of attention, an instance of noticing before it dissolves into distance.
Reviews
African PaperThe collaborative album “Cairn” by Paul Beaudoin and Jeff Düngfelder, aka Ümlaut, is being released these days by Audiobulb. According to sources close to the artists, “Cairn” brings together two different but complementary approaches. Paul Beaudoin's contribution explores time, memory, and how meaning forms and dissolves in the act of listening. Düngfelder focuses on sustained textures created from field recordings and electronic elements, aiming less at development than at perception and lingering.
The collaboration gives rise to a multitude of richly detailed scenarios and moods, constantly reinventing themselves and thus lending each piece its own unique character. In this fusion of electronic and organic elements, these approaches combine to create a sequence of understated, attention-grabbing pieces, in which every sound is understood as a trace pointing to something that came before. “Cairn” is conceived as a dialogue in which atmosphere, temporality, and memory are not explained, but rather made audible. The album, featuring Düngfelder's artwork, is available as a download.
Original > HERE
Luminous DashA cinematic world, a sensory delight… we're running out of superlatives for the album Cairn . Paul Beaudoin (Tallinn, Estonia) and Jeff Düngfelder (Weatogue, Connecticut, USA), who operates under the name Ümlaut , engage in a remarkable dialogue in which intimate soundscapes effortlessly encapsulate the sense of time. This extraordinary listening adventure captivated us and ultimately crystallized into this review.
Time and memory, echoes of the past, ambiance, perception, and sounds that congeal into thoughts are the sources of inspiration for these two electronic musicians. Cairn does more than simply leave traces: the versatile soundscapes open up a dimension of tranquility that never bores. Beaudoin and Düngfelder explore each other's sonic palette, layering together minimalistic layers. The duo's ambient architecture is fragile and rich with mysterious background sounds, which only reveal their full beauty after several listens.
Cairn hums through dreamlike, electronically controlled landscapes where everything—even silence—remains in motion. With this album, the duo creates an observation within an observation, actively engaging the listener in the sonic perceptions presented. The rich sonic palette encompasses noise, crackling, field recordings, acoustic ripples, piano reverberations, and soft experimental tingles. Each track amplifies the next, drawing us ever deeper into a remarkable electronic universe.
Cairn is highly recommended for lovers of intelligent ambient in the tradition of Brian Eno , Jon Hassell and Harold Budd .
Original > HERE