by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Wil Bolton, a musician and artist based in East London, was persuaded by The Slow Music Movement to create a more beat-based, electronic approach to his ambient works. They set him this goal after a long period of successful ambient works written largely free of beats, but here he sets to work with rhythm tracks generated with the help of a vintage 7” of heart sounds.

What’s the music like?

Perhaps not surprisingly the pulse of the music here tends towards the slow side, unfolding with an easy manner and a charming sub-set of friendly bleeps, pockets of ambient wide noise and consonant harmonies that perform subtle shapeshifting moves in the foreground.

They proceed with an incredibly relaxed manner, the listener immediately put at ease while they are taken into a colourful area of textures that ripple gradually or move in and out of focus, the musical light dappled and refracted as part of an ongoing process.

With all of the tracks over five minutes in length there is time for the listener to dive deep into each of the six sound worlds, with soft nuggets of rhythm prompting and nudging at each turn. Patina is a great example, the subtle percussion complemented by long, held notes and pockets of synthesizer activity that sits on the edge of dub music. Sandalwood is a little sharper in tone while Rails Overhead is relatively dark.

Does it all work?

It does – but Null Point is definitely most effective as a continuous listen over 40 minutes, allowing the mind and aural responses to slow down in line with its workings.

Is it recommended?

Yes. Null Point is not a dead end, as its title suggests – rather it is a place to go where listeners can feel safe from musical harm! Slower heart rates and lower blood pressure are a given as a result.

For fans of… Marconi Union, Ultramarine, Brian Eno, Ulrich Schnauss

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Published post no.2,081 – Thursday 8 February 2024