Velv.93
Maidstone
STROOM
STROOM rarely makes much of a promotional fuss about its releases, and when Maidstone dropped with no advance notice earlier this week, the beloved Belgian outpost said only that it was a “monumental and very heady ambient release” that could help listeners to cope with the winter months. Velv.93 does hail from Sweden, so perhaps he’s uniquely well equipped to tackle freezing temperatures and extended periods of reduced activity, but given his own tendency to maintain a very low public profile, even that can’t be properly confirmed.
That leaves only the music itself to go on, and luckily for everyone involved, it’s excellent. It’s ambient, yes, but more importantly, it’s deeply patient, as the LP’s 12 tracks unfold with the quiet urgency of a glacier that’s steadily, but almost imperceptibly, advancing across the tundra. Although Maidstone isn’t a static record by any means, the motion of its understated drones, warbling tones and scattered field recordings does feel almost circular, as though Velv.93 is deliberately mulling them over again and again, allowing the sounds to evolve only slightly which each rotation. There’s something comforting about that, welcoming even, and despite the album’s generally chilly disposition, it makes for an enticing companion, particularly during those moments when one throws themselves headlong into sustained bouts of self-reflection.