It is a good sign when I listen to an album and think to myself, “What is making that sound?” The dominant sound on Confluence has a smooth moaning and sweeping character that has very little attack. The round, often reverberant sound rolls in and out of notes and structures without a definite start/stop point. Each track, while sounding fairly similar, has a unique interpretation and Manual explores the possibilities of ambient variations with a single sound source. The sound source, the dominant texture of this album, is an electric guitar that is heavily processed. Through extensive use of effects, Jonas Munk transforms the common tone of the guitar into a sweeping, smooth drapery of sound that seems to slowly travel great distances.

On occasion, after much patience, piano or other synth tones augment and accent certain songs. On “Confluence”, a piano segment is a respite from the droning almost shapeless guitar sounds. The attack of the piano is mingled with the guitar after the respite and the two work together to create a slow, yet lovely melodic structure. Patience is the key to this album.

Unlike many ambient albums, even those that receive much acclaim, Confluence does not fall prey to the weakness of songs that drone on without purpose or growth. Indeed, this is the influence of Brian Eno and his shunning of traditional song evolution and is an important musical milestone, yet ambient music has such a power if it is able to evolve. Ambient has a precedence that allows it to take many minutes to craft a complete song and Manual uses this time to reward the listener with an evolution of the thematic meat while maintaining an overall ambient theme for the album. Confluence receives great power from this utilization of time that allows it to slowly morph its soundscape and gently pull the listener along.

The overall mood of this album is dark and somber, yet it does not hit the listener over the head with repetitive drones. The sound is never stale and the themes maintain a freshness throughout the album and take the listener along for the journey. This is a solid release that proves that ambient music can have an evolutionary form within a track and maintain the beauties of slow, sweeping, droning walls of sound.