Customer Reviews

Music for the Forest Concourse

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Gentle swells of piano, synth pads, and electronic percussion fill my room from the very first track of the latest album of Tim Arnd's Near The Parenthesis project. On his fourth album for n5MD, titled Music For The Forest Concourse, Arndt explores meditative passages crafted specifically "for dusk, for open air, for sitting down, and for breathing in. It is music for staring upwards and listening attentively or casually". Falling somewhere between modern classical, emotional electronica, and conscious sky gazing, the music of this San Francisco based producer evokes an up-lifting feeling in each near-five-minute-long track. Perfect for afternoon walks, open window car rides through the country, and for lazy Sunday morning coffee sips. It is especially nice to hear Arndt's very personal piano work embedded in the background of each track, appropriately ending the album with the lullaby, "Goodnight". Over the course of an hour in twelve loosely wrapped tracks, like random gifts left on the porch to be discovered by your sleepy neighbors, Near The Parenthesis delivers another collection of soothing glitchy ambient sounds, calming atmospheres and warm sunny rays. Be sure to check out Arndt's 2008 album, L'Eixample (see Review on Headphone Commute), as well as Of Soft Construction (n5MD, 2007). Recommended if you like his other label-mates, Another Electronic Musician, Arc Lab and SubtractiveLAD.

I've been interested in ambient music for a long time, since I first heard about Brian Eno's "Music for Airports".

For a seemingly "simple" genre, it's pretty difficult to get it right, at least to my ears - it can be either too bland or too melodic, and over time I've acquired a ton of "ambient" music that falls into one of these two extremes.

Near The Parenthesis always gets "just right" for me - structurally interesting enough for a critical listen on headphones, or also suitable if you just want to have something percolating in the background.

This album contains the archetypical Near the Parenthesis track "Not Here, Not Tonight", which is also currently a freebie MP3 download on Amazon.

If you enjoy this music, you should also check out the albums by Loscil, especially
Plume.

I like this CD. I bought in for my massage practice. I find it relaxing and beautiful music.