Ian Hawgood is a rather active chap. In between his duties as the curator of the Home Normal, Tokyo Droning, and Nomadic Kids Republic labels, he’s taken the time to record and release not one, but four CDs this year. They are, as follows, We Are Better for Being Built This Way, Wolfskin, Snow Roads and The Great Allure. More are on their way. After perusing through the four discs, I decided to review the best one. This was not an easy task, as the releases are all of decent quality. I would have preferred a single disc version of highlights, because the best ideas are spread throughout the quartet. Those who love Hawgood’s music are probably happy to have four collectible releases, but this is not the best way to break into the public consciousness.

Hawgood’s ambient drones are often sprinkled with piano, harmonium, field recordings, and vague electronics. He’s inspired by sticks and stones, homemade instruments, and travel. His pieces tend toward the languid end of the spectrum, swaying slightly but seldom building to anything resembling a climax. Hawgood seems to be aiming in the same direction as Mountains and Richard Skelton, but his productions lack the internal dynamism that we are used to hearing from these other artists.

I think it only fair that the three discarded releases be addressed, at least in passing.The Great Allure is a diary of train journeys. Song titles include “North India in 1998 With My Dad” and “The Great Allure of Travel in the Land Mass That Is America.” This is the least impressive of the four discs, given that the tracks tend to go longer than they should without adequate development – one is over twenty minutes long and continues the same vocal sample throughout the duration.Wolfskin is a much more even album, with mid-length pieces that typically rest their hats on a few specific sounds, varying slightly in intensity as they progress. “Black Teddy Red Flowers” and “Red Rugs of Infinite Grass” are the standout cuts, occupying the louder end of Hawgood’s sonic spectrum. On We Are Better for Being Built This Way, this position is occupied by “Yenali” and “Coombe,” although the better tracks are the opener and closer, due to a more deliberate use of field recordings. This album contains a greater rainbow of tones, but is hampered again by a lack of brevity – two of the tracks log over sixteen minutes.

This leaves Snow Roads, an album inspired by “isolation and desertion.” The most desolate of human conditions often lead to the greatest inspiration, and this is the case here. The album feels lonely and snowbound, but it comes across as resigned and determined rather than sad; as the poet Linda Hasselstrom writes, “men like them can take it.” The irony is that Hawgood’s album is not a solo venture; he’s joined here by friends such as The Remote Viewer (harmonium), El Fog (vibraphone), Celer (tingsha bells) and producer Taylor Deupree.

On Snow Roads, Hawgood avoids the excess of his other recordings. The longest track spans seven minutes, and the shortest nine seconds (I’m a fan of brevity, but that’s a bit too brief). The sonic variety is the widest of the four albums, as blended tones give way to clearly identifiable instrumentation. The overall concept is clear and evocative, placing the album in the company of other successful winter-based recordings, the most obvious being Lawrence English’s For Varying Degrees of Winter and Elegi’s Verde. When one plays the shorter, field-recording-based tracks in succession, he inherits the infamous sense of snow; thankfully, such samples are sprinkled throughout the longer tracks as well. “Evening” is a slow, forlorn serenade. “Specks Then Flakes” begins with a quiet violin but develops into a light storm -- the perfect execution of its title. While these two tracks are the album’s highlights, the tiny pieces are important as well; without “Crows” and “Snow Roads,” the sense of time and place would be diminished.

For those who are curious about Hawgood’s music – and there does seem to be a lot of it – Snow Roads is the place to start. Those who enjoy this album may become curious enough to check out the other members of this quartet, which were germinated a couple years ago and are only now seeing release. Or they may wish to wait for Hawgood’s newer material to hit the market. To summarize:Snow Roads stands above its siblings because it avoids overextension, exercises tonal contrast, has a clear theme, and is of consistent quality from start to finish. If Hawgood continues in this vein, and tempers his release schedule a bit, he may yet become a luminary in the genre.

-Richard Allen