This is the second collaboration between Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri, created during a three-day residency at Berlin’s Morphine Raum. The duo recorded their performances live while also reshaping their work, using rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar. All were captured through a vintage (1970s!) mixing console and microphones placed around the room.
As the pair returned to their home studios, Mogard manipulated the existing material through his studio in Rome, while Irisarri added guitar textures and treatments in New York. Then, passages recorded by cellist Martina Bertoni and violinist Andrea Burelli in Berlin added new layers to their work, after which Mogard reassembled everything into the final versions.
What’s the music like?
Like a slow-moving swan, this album proceeds serenely with no hint of the process going on underneath. Heard on headphones, there are moments of heart-shifting beauty as the slow moving but firmly set musical processes make their mark, and the harmonies make telling turns when led by the bassy drones.
This is the case for In the Eastern Wild, a descriptive number that grows in stature to become an awesome presence, a wall of sound complemented by Over The Domes, held exquisitely in suspension.
The centrepiece of the album is A Blue Descent, where immersive ambience takes on new levels with the help of Bertoni’s long-breathed cello phrases, brooding yet uplifting, and In A Quiet Radiance, which goes through a similarly pronounced crescendo. Here Burelli’s violin sits above with a wordless vocal, all beautifully judged and woven together.
The comedown from this is the huge space found by Of Blessed Ages, then the wall of outdoor white noise that is Among Shadows, with a drone you could happily dive into.
Does it all work?
Yes. The pair work as one throughout, the music unfolding with a natural beauty and stature rare in ambient music.
Is it recommended?
With great enthusiasm. This is music that can calm the fevered brow, but also warm the cold heart, for there are great emotional depths found through the smallest movement. A deeply impressive achievement.
Listen / Buy
Published post no.3,005 – Wednesday 2 September 2026
Alice Boyd (soundscapes, synthesizers, vocals), Belle Chen (piano, synthesizers), Lucinda Chua (cello, vocals), Erland Cooper (electronics, piano, presenter, tape machines), Katherine Tinker (piano, synthesizers), Isobel Waller-Bridge (piano), BBC Symphony Chorus, City of London Sinfonia / Alexandra Wood (violin)
Royal Albert Hall, London Thursday 20 August 2026
Reviewed by Ben Hogwood Photos (c) BBC /
The role of classical music in modern society is changing. With the need to ‘unwind’ greater than ever before, thanks to an age of conflict, hardship and technology – constant visual and audio bombardment from our devices, among many other things – there is a space where calm and undemanding music can make its understated mark.
This can of course happen in operas and substantial Prom concerts, but that Radio 3 should introduce Unwind, their digital counterpart to the main station, says a lot about the mental health of our generation and our short attention span, constantly fraying at the edges as we deal with anxieties, the media and too much attention to social media (I’m speaking for myself here!)
Ultimate Calm is a programme residing on the new channel, beginning on Radio 3 itself under the guidance of the well-qualified Olafur Arnalds before finding its new spiritual home. So how do the BBC Proms achieve ultimate calm, and is it better in person or experienced at home?
The first sounds on arriving in the arena at the Royal Albert Hall were those of blackbirds, surely the idea of Orcadian composer and multi-instrumentalist Erland Cooper – who, as a regular Unwind contributor, curated this Prom. The music was in the most part enhanced by the birdsong and other field recordings, reminding us of the importance and appreciation of natural beauty.
The published programme proved helpful to a point, listing the pieces but not in the order they were performed. Cooper’s music secured a sonorous and comforting start, his Music for Growing Flowers (Nocturne) presented in a new arrangement blossoming like its subject. The yearning tones of the BBC Symphony Chorus were supplemented by cleverly wrought percussion with the hands imitating rain and wind and complemented by the soft bed of City of London Sinfonia strings.
This curtain raiser / light dimmer was the first work of what became a streaming playlist in live form, with little between the tracks save for field recordings, allowing the listener to picture a natural space. The musical language was largely simple – not a criticism – as it allowed the mind to wander, and – ultimately – to unwind.
Pianist Belle Chen chose well with her pieces, two excerpts from the excellent Ravel In The Forest album that included evocative forest noises from a synthesizer positioned on top of the piano. Moonrise, the first excerpt, leant on Barber’s Adagio for Strings for its inspiration and proved effective in this context.
Lucinda Chua’s cello (above) then explored rich, multitracked sonorities on I Left the Earth, while a vocal number, Something Other Than Years, provided a musical affirmation with its catchphrase, “show me how to live this life”. At this point, even allowing for the plaintive Symbiosis from Alice Boyd (below) and the deep resonance of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s A Pile of Dust, we were walking a fine line between background and foreground music, the audience a mixture of calm and fidgeting, as though in the half hour before sleep. Oddly, the unwinding music also drew vivid parallels with coffee shop culture rather than the Royal Albert Hall.
Standing out in the foreground was the craftsmanship of Finzi, Sibelius and Debussy. Finzi’s gorgeous Romance stole the show in a passionate performance from the string orchestra, who also captured the warmth of Sibelius’s Andante Festivo along with its elusive emotions. Meanwhile a sensitive arrangement by Erland Cooper of Debussy’s Clair de Lune also hit the spot, with a special solo from cellist Will Schofield. The City of London Sinfonia strings played dreamily under the direction of Alexandra Wood, the 55-year-old ensemble infrequent Proms visitors but extremely welcome here. The BBC Symphony Chorus, used more sparingly, contributed a brief but moving Abendlied from Josef Rheinberger.
The principal problem with experiencing such a Prom in the flesh was the approach of the midnight hour, and with it the anxiety that the last form of transport home was imminent, making it impossible to unwind completely. With this in mind your correspondent took his leave just as a world premiere was beginning, a new arrangement of Isobel Waller-Bridge’s Solitudes (after Satie) for two pianos, wordless choir and string orchestra. Listening back on BBC Sounds, it proved an affecting piece whose ripples spread out far beyond the hall with waves of wordless singing from the chorus.
As an advert for Radio 3 Unwind, this concert was a strong promotion and will hopefully propel the right audience to its channel. As a way into classical music it is persuasive and low maintenance, especially with the natural link. Yet it is to be hoped such an audience can blossom in the way of Erland Cooper’s flowers, encouraged to explore more substantial works by the composers whose relaxing sounds they have heard. Debussy, Ravel and Sibelius in particular have all written music with great kinetic energy! Yet that is for another day…for this Prom, sensitively staged if somewhat out of place for the live visitor, will leave a lasting legacy online.
Repertoire: Cooper Music for Growing Flowers (Nocturne) Belle Chen Ravel In The Forest: Moonrise; Three Birds Finzi Romance for string orchestra Lucinda Chua I Left the Earth; Something Other Than Years Jóhannsson A Pile of Dust Sibelius Andante festive Rheinberger Abendlied Alice Boyd Symbiosis Debussy arr Cooper Clair de Lune (Suite bergamasque) Isobel Waller-Bridge Solitudes (after Satie)
James Murray’s contributions to the quiet details series now number three, building on the Slowreels – Everyday Exotic collaboration with Ian Hawgood and Weeds, his debut solo album.
About the sequel, James has said, “Islands Alight making landfall amidst these relentless heatwaves and impending drought feels about right; environmental anxiety courses through the album like wildfire, consciously balanced only by the rising of pale, elemental waters.
Developed over four years, the origins go back further still. Drawing together wide- screen melodic, rhythmic and electroacoustic concerns, Islands Alight stands as a deliberate, defining work at the confluence of ambient dub roots and the artist I am now.”
What’s the music like?
Murray has a special way of working with deep musical ambience that combines both restfulness and emotion. Islands Alight is undoubtedly suitable for hot weather listening but has a cool edge to it, calming the fevered brow.
After Shallows sets the scene, its deep sounds in contrast to its title, before Becalmed builds with steady intensity, with stately and rather gorgeous shifting patterns. Whale Isles pans out again for an expansive view, and has real presence, glinting at the edges but underpinned by solid bass. Albatross soars but also applies a firm beat, before Murray goes for deeper bass with Sargasso, the dub elements coming through. In fact the percussion is deceptive, providing strong rhythmic profiles but somehow sitting in the background.
Does it all work?
It does. Murray paces things to perfection, and the overall ambience is lasting long after the album has finished.
Is it recommended?
Enthusiastically. The best ambient music manages to soothe but also inspire, and James Murray is capable of providing both in equal measure. An album to put on repeat, for sure.
Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), Taylor Eigsti (piano), Harish Raghavan (bass), Kendrick Scott (drums), BBC Concert Orchestra / Miho Hazama
Royal Albert Hall, London Thursday 20 August 2026
Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Photos (c) BBC / Andy Paradise
Commemorating Miles Davis in the year of his centenary was an obvious inclusion for this year’s Proms, and tonight’s concert more than fulfilled its remit through focussing on those seminal albums when Davis collaborated with multi-faceted pianist and arranger Gil Evans.
While no single event could do justice to a legacy the scale and scope of Davis’s, the present selection made sense with its often expansive arrangements being ideally suited to the Royal Albert Hall acoustic not least through what were, for the most part, idiomatic orchestrations by Miho Hazama. Moreover, the layout with trumpet, piano, bass and drums soloists arrayed at the front of the platform worked to the advantage of both this music as of these musicians.
1959’s Porgy and Bess still offers a pertinent overview of Gershwin’s opera even if trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire took time to settle in Bess, you is my woman now – his playing not so much intimate as tentative. Segueing into Evans’s simmering Gone saw him find his groove, not least via a stunning break by drummer Kendrick Scott. An expressive if (thankfully) never cloying Summertime gave Akinmusire requisite breathing-space, while I loves you, Porgy (aka I wants to stay here) brought out the luminosity of Evans’s arrangement along with its dextrous contribution by pianist Taylor Eigsti (an inspired late replacement for Sam Harris).
Although compiled from earlier sessions, 1957’s Birth of the Cool was hardly less influential on release yet, (over-)embellished by Hazama, Little Variations on ‘Boplicity’ was a little too knowing for its own good. Nor did her blowzy orchestration of the sensuous Blue in Green suggest 1959’s Kind of Blue as being other than quintet music, but her book-ending of Falla’s capricious Will o’ the Wisp with his malevolent Dance of Terror or inexorable Ritual Fire Dance created an El amor brujo medley for the BBC Concert Orchestra to come into its own.
After the interval, 1957’s Miles Ahead was represented by the segueing of Weill’s My Ship – Akinmusire doing justice to Davis’s soulful flugelhorn playing – into the title-track with its evocative modal writing and restive atmosphere necessarily unresolved at the close. 1963’s Quiet Nights is the last of and the ‘Cinderella’ among these Davis/Evans collaborations, but their take on Once Upon a Summertime brings eloquence to this overly sentimental ballad abetted here by Hazama’s orchestration. She and the BBCCO took a break while the quartet, notably Harish Raghavan’s smouldering bass solo, impressed in Akinmusire’s Henya from his 2023 album Owl Song. It was left for the ‘Adagio’ from Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez to close the programme with a pathos that no amount of ‘coffee-table’ overkill could efface.
A programme that, whatever its unevenness, confirmed the relevance of these albums almost seven decades on. Soloists and orchestra reconvened for a propulsive take on Ahmad Jamal’s New Rumba (from Miles Ahead) that saw this evening through to a scintillating conclusion. Hopefully more such events will take place at the Proms, maybe one centred on the music and arrangements of George Russell who – despite his being absent from Alyn Shipton’s otherwise admirable programme essay – made so much of post-bop jazz not just possible but inevitable.
Pieces performed as follows (all arrangements by Miho Hazama)
Gershwin arr. Evans Porgy and Bess – Bess, you is my woman now (1935, arr. 1958) Evans Gone (1958) Gershwin Porgy and Bess – Summertime (1935, arr. 1958); Porgy and Bess – Porgy and Bess – I loves you, Porgy (1935, arr. 1958) Davis/Evans (arr. Hazama) Little Variations on ‘Boplicity’ (1949, arr. 2026) Davis/B. Evans Blue in Green (1959, arr. 2026) Falla arr. Evans/Hazama El amor brujo (1914-16, arr. 1959/2026) Weill arr. Evans Lady in the Dark – My Ship (1940, arr. 1957) Davis/Evans Miles Ahead (1957) Barclay/Legrand/Marnay arr. Evans Once Upon a Summertime (1954, arr. 1962) Rodrigo arr. Evans Concierto de Aranjuez – Adagio (1939, arr. 1959)
The second collaborative album between Animal Collective’s Panda Bear and founding member of Spacemen 3, Sonic Boom, looks to build on their successful work together on the Reset album of 2022.
A ? OF WHEN takes a different approach, using as its source material harp loops from Mary Lattimore, together with steel drum sequences, pedal steel webs and fragments of a mariachi band.
While the music might sound detached, it is actually a sharply observed commentary on the state of the world. As the album progresses they look at online exhaustion and progressive depression, political upheaval and the environment.
As the text on the press release states, “The goal is for the music to create physical connections between people, to encourage them to enjoy a real experience in the world with it and each other.”
What’s the music like?
In relation to the objective of the album, it is very much job done – for a listen to this album gives the listener a lasting positivity.
There may be some lyrical dark spots on the surface but musically this is bright sunshine, a celebration of two musical minds meeting and sparking some genuinely uplifting music.
The obvious reference points are The Beach Boys, with a frisson of The Mamas and the Papas and also The Zombies, but all updated with electronic knowhow and hazy production warmth. The source material – Lattimore’s harp and the accompanying steel band brightness – is economically used, and proves the perfect complement for Panda Bear’s vocals.
These are as distinctive as ever, and burrow into your brain via the incredibly catchy Lucky Charm or the light / dark alternations of Graveyard, up in tempo but down in lyrics.
The chorus of Never Givin’ In is a lasting show of strength, while the upbeat title track follows suit. Pray to you is immersed in watery strings, while Somethin’ that lasts shows this music has staying power, finding grace and tender moments among the woozy reverb.
Does it all work?
It does. The two work easily in each other’s company, and the resultant sound is like a musical heatwave.
Is it recommended?
Heartily. Music can be so much fun in collaboration, and A ? OF WHEN celebrates the outcome. Pure musical enjoyment was rarely so immediate!
For fans of… Animal Collective, The Beach Boys, Peaking Lights, Supertramp
Arcana.fm 