Split EPs are a tricky business.  If the two artists are too different, then there’s no cohesion and people wonder why they even released anything together.  If they are two similar, then people have trouble telling where one artist begins and the other ends, which eliminates the point of showcasing both artists’ work.  Sometimes, though, you get two bands that can compliment each other with work that is similar, yet still clearly demarcated.  Such is the case with Sublimation, an elctro-ambient split-EP between longtime-friends Pale Amber Glow and Somebody Else’s. 

Pale Amber Glow, by the way, is an exceptionally well-named project.  Like soft luminescence from a streetlight, there’s something soothing and comforting in these ambient swells and electronic beats.  I had listened to Sublimation a few times before, but it first really gripped me as I was making the drive back to St. Louis from my ancestral homeland on this past Sunday night.  I had been listening to a book on tape for most of the way up there – Heart of Darkness.  It’s not exactly a comforting work, to say the least.  So, I suppose I was feeling a little agitated, and I decided to pop in some music to calm myself down.  Since I had to review this album, I thought I’d give it another go.  As soon as the cyclic lead-in line to “Latent” started, accompanied by some background glitching, I began to feel incredibly at ease.  Much like this year’s Dusker (from Kiln), there’s something in these electro-ambient compositions that seem to draw anxiety right out of you, like water to a sponge.  All of the tracks on this EP achieve this, but this first track goes beyond the rest.

As I drove on, Pale Amber Glow’s next two songs continued to set me at ease.  There’s a slight misstep towards the end of “Velvet Topography,” where a jarring guitar riff upsets the mood towards the end of the song.  But all is made well again with Glow’s third and final track.  Then we get into the three contributions from Somebody Else’s, which are, perhaps, a bit more active.  That is to say, although both artists fool around with synthetic beats and spastic electronic effects, and both employ the oceanic effect so common to ambient music, Somebody Else’s has more of the former, while Pale Amber Glow balances more towards the latter.  In this way, Somebody Else’s provides that great compliment to Pale Amber Glow that I was talking about earlier.

It may be that this review is partly a reflection of the environment in which I most recently experienced this album, but I find this to be a perfect companion to a long nighttime drive.  To be honest, I haven’t been this relaxed since the first time I heard Eluvium’s Copia – which (as fellow TSB reviewer Kris Ilic discovered in his review) also complements late-night travel.  This is music for moonlit contemplation, for placing your car (or your life) on autopilot, and for hurtling through the darkness at 70 miles per hour, with the soft yellow lumination from your headlamps lighting the next precious few feet of your way forward.

-Tom Butcher