Harpist and composer Mary Lattimore is unveiling her rework of Rosa Canina, taken from First Sounds, the debut collaborative album by Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry, and Rebecca Foon.
Lattimore, known for her transcendent and evocative solo works, brings her signature sense of intimacy and cosmic spaciousness to the piece. Her reimagining deepens the original’s meditative string motifs, layering them with shimmering harp. Her rework finds her in dialogue with kindred spirits, artists who also inhabit the borderlands between classical form, ambient meditation, and intuitive sound.
You can listen below:
Published post no.2,737 – Wednesday 3 December 2025
Three decades and twelve albums haven’t offered a single Christmas song from Merseyside psych sorcerers, The Coral, until now. As overdue as the reply from Santa to a lost child’s letter and as cursed as Krampus’ footsteps getting closer in the dead of Christmas night, the filmic five-piece release She Died On Christmas Day, their first new music since 2023’s Top Five album, Sea Of Mirrors.
With a limited edition 7” release available to fans and collectors, titled Christmas On Coral Island, the title track is the last to feature the narration of the Ian Murray, also known as The Great Muriarty. Bringing dramatic poise as narrator on both The Coral’s 2022 album, Coral Island and 2023’s ‘spirit broadcast’ of Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show, Ian and James’s Skelly’s late-grandfather ably sets the scene on the B-side.
‘Loud ambient’ is an ironic term The Black Dog coined for music that didn’t quite fit in with their series My Brutal Life – but also took on a humourous bent when they considered how they are seen in some circles as making purely ambient music.
As this album reminds us, that is emphatically not the case, and if anything proves their most instinctive form of music. For Loud Ambient began as a response to Rothko’s artwork, specifically his use of colour fields, blending, mood and scale. The band fed these responses through work on their beloved 909, 808 and 707 keyboards.
As the band say, during recording, “everything just fell into place creatively. Surprisingly for us, the tracklisting never changed, just small tweaks here and there. That rarely happens. It marks a first for us as a band. All the stars aligned and the confidence in this album is the strongest we have ever had.
Loud Ambient was made to dance to, something we have not done in a while. We welcome the return to the dancefloor with both hands. Will you join us?”
What’s the music like?
We will definitely join The Black Dog on the dancefloor if this is the music they are dancing to! The ten tracks are completely free of padding, really satisfyingly worked, instinctive and – as they say – confidently dispatched.
This is a strong set of energised electronic music with a bucketload of melodic interest, bolstered by chunky chords above the quicker beats. There are ambient hints of course, but the likes of They Came For My Head get on with things in a pretty lively fashion. The excellent Double Drop Nightmares nips along, while Reality Comes Crashing Back In charms with its chattering and bleeping, as does the amiable Rumination Romance.
Meanwhile the rich tones of Pamphlet offer warm comfort at the end.
Does it all work?
Yes – and it’s all hugely enjoyable. A real representation of fun had in the studio!
Is it recommended?
It is indeed. The Black Dog are incredibly prolific these days, but Loud Ambient is another example of just how consistently strong their work is, whether you’re in the hammock or on the dancefloor!
by Ben Hogwood. Image by Charles Reutlinger, used courtesy of Wikipedia
On this day in 1877, the first performance took place of Tchaikovsky’sVariationsonaRococoThemeOp.33.
Composed for solo cello and orchestra, the piece had a chequered history. The German cellist William Fitzenhagen, who gave the premiere in Moscow under the baton of Nikolai Rubinstein, made unsanctioned cuts and amendments to Tchaikovsky’s original, meaning the composer’s intended structure and phrasing went awry.
Here is the original version, with cellist Johannes Moser and Case Scaglione conducting the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France:
Mark Burford, aka FieldLinesCartographer, writes on the Bandcamp page for this release:
According to the 6th century Greek philosopher Anaximander, ‘apeiron’ is a state of primal chaos. It is the limitless, undefinable everything from which all is created & the essential form back to which all will ultimately return. Apeiron constantly & infinitely creates the building blocks of everything, including all states of opposition such as heat & cold, dry & wet, only to then destroy & remake it all anew in a boundless, eternal cycle.
It seems that humanity in the 21st century is living in a type of apeiron with our social, political, technological & economic structures. One crisis is seemingly resolved only to be replaced with another. Alleged enemies become friends, only to return as enemies again. Technology creates solutions, but the unintended consequences of its application create a new set of problems to be surmounted. We seem to be living in a permanent state of uncertainty & flux. This creates a type of undefinable, constant anxiety. Nothing is certain & the cycle of creation & destruction of threats, fears & challenges remorselessly continues. We live in a state of perpetual confusion, the ebb & flow of humanity’s own apeiron.
What’s the music like?
Rich in colour and content, while being deeply immersive.
Uncollapsing steals in but rich in ambient content. ASummoning starts with darker colours but opens out beautifully, giving the feeling of an event about to happen, with movement in the middle ground but long arcs above. TheWaveThatBreaksUs is a deep, meditative piece, with sonorous tones and a rich, pulsing bass drone that gradually takes over.
These tracks of subtle but intense activity are complemented by the likes of Dying Embers, an immensely reassuring album closer.
Does it all work?
Yes – and is best experienced as a single entity. These long form compositions are ideally paced and beautifully scored.
Is it recommended?
It is. This is ideal foreground music for either end of the day, where its treasures are most fully revealed.
Listen / Buy
Published post no.2,733 – Saturday 29 November 2025
Arcana.fm 