Verdant Machine, by Aquarelle | Ambient Landscape

Verdant Machine is Ryan Potts’ latest album as Aquarelle since 2017’s Leave Corners, and it showcases his interest in using a narrow set of tools to create a wider soundscape than in the past. With a focus on fewer tools but longer duration, Potts has created two side-long pieces that utilize the full length of the vinyl format to play with perception and expectation.

The album marks a departure from Potts’ previous work, as he stripped back his approach and did away with his standby instrument, the guitar. “For the first time in many years I mostly just played with the machines and electronics in my basement with no real thought of what the material would become”

The pieces, having more room to breathe, sound like quintessential Aquarelle layers of layers but present as both lighter and much heavier or at least more dynamic than ever before. The edges are being explored. “The whole album is quite layered because I can’t help myself, but it’s really just sine waves, simple string loops, and feedback (from many different sources — electronics, tube amps, mixers, digital generators, baby monitors).”

Unquestionably this is the most minimal and outright “noisy” album in the Aquarelle discography. It is also the most assured and methodical. A slow deep breath through a thousand wires.

Released May 26, 2023

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