Ambient music has, over the past twenty or so years, splintered into two categories. One follows the lead of Brian Eno, where minimalist, formless soundscapes intricately interweave, evolving into background lullabies that are just as much intended to be ignored as they are to be listened to. The other branch came to prominence in the late 80's and early 90's with the inception of ‘chill-out’ music, or sounds intended to enhance, extend, and pacify the still-racing minds of worn-out, post-clubbing bodies. Artists such as The Orb, Mixmaster Morris's The Irresistible Force project, and Spacetime Continuum were pioneers of this movement. Thanks in large part to the early adoption of the burgeoning CD medium, labels like Instinct and Warp were able to provide listeners with a taste of the otherwise vinyl-only, dj-exclusive cuts in a format better suited for the home listening environment. While the music still contained elements of psychedelica, the lower tempos and minimal, often dub-inspired rhythmic structures allowed the soundscapes to unwind and wash over the listener in such a fashion that were best-suited for scoring the widescreen imagination-cinema of early morning dream descent.
Hamilton, Ontario's Electroluminescent, otherwise known as Ryan Ferguson, follows this path. His new EP, Measures, marks his debut for the outstanding thisquietarmy label, and follows a set of two EPs released on Chat Blanc Records and another self-released album and EP from 2004 and 2005 respectively. Much like his predecessors, Ferguson is not afraid to draw his track lengths out, with two of the three original pieces on the EP clocking in at over eleven minutes apiece, and thanks to Ferguson's fine attention to the details, these extended works do not become tedious.
On the opener, “Ampere”, light pads build like fog on an opposite shore at daybreak, and are buoyed, right on time, by drifting, reversed drums around the two-minute mark. Guitar and synth notes continue to envelope the sounds as the percussion becomes more stable, building tension through repetition while at the same time progressing the song forward through subtle shifts in the elements' combined dynamic. As the track reaches its apex around the eight and half minute mark, bass tones become more evident and something of a synth lead line emerges for a few moments, and then devolves into ripples slowly receding back away from the shore.
The shortest of the three pieces, “Farad” actually follows a more typical song structure, leading off with an easy drum break pattern and a pastoral synth line. Softly-muted string pads are layered in and then allowed to meander through the remainder of the song's six minutes. Again, a mellow tension is built throughout the course of the track, which evokes an early morning walk through a misty spring meadow. This is not the slumbering, musique concrete of Eno, et al; it is instead an attempt to provide a vehicle for extra-sensory transport.
“Candela” comes closest to matching the shimmering space-loops of the aforementioned early-90's golden age of chill music, when compilations like the Excursions in Ambience series were must-haves for any after-hours gathering. A delicate, burbling bass line revolves for four minutes, while pads truly deserving of the adjective ‘ethereal’ culminate in various tones and timbres until a complex thread of sound is formed. Attempting to see each of these layers on their own becomes an exercise similar to picking out individual stars during a slow-motion viewing of the climax of 2001: A Space Odyssey – it's a task worth undertaking, but why bother? Sit back and enjoy the ride.
The EP is rounded out with the inclusion of two remixes. The first, “Ghost in the Gaps”, is tackled by fellow thisquietarmy act Elika, who provides a step away from their usual shoegaze to supply the most up-tempo moments on the release. Panning, stuttering drums click around swirling guitars, creating a light-hearted treatment but at the same time not really ending up much further away than where they started. “To Make Him Live Again” caps the release, here remixed by Chat Blanc head Pascal Asselin's Millimetrik project. The rework is the most complete piece on the album, with solid percussion (Asselin also serves as Below the Sea's drummer), interesting and well-placed synth pad production, and an eerie-but-not-scary separation in the mix of the low pad tones and the chiming guitar line, which is chopped up and dispersed throughout the track. Asselin quite easily manipulates the mood of the track from down tempo trip-hop into a more lively electro-based work.
Ryan Ferguson's Electroluminescent project deserves the recognition he's finally starting to get. Finding a place alongside heavyweights like Aidan Baker and the Le Chat Blanc Orchestra is no small task, especially considering the glut of like-minded acts in the re-emerging ambient scene of today. While Fergusondoes carry similar creative genes as Alex Patterson and Future Sounds of London, he is careful to stamp his work with his own fingerprint. With a tour of Europe alongside Below the Sea already under his belt, a solid label in thisquietarmy lending its support, and a busy schedule ahead, Ferguson appears to be on the edge of success. Hopefully there's a longer release in the near future for this up-and-coming artist.
-Ben Ramsey