These days I find myself spending a lot of time contemplating stillness, the nature of now, and the peace of being. With that, certain sound becomes my companion and a closer friend. Music without boundaries, concepts and hidden messages is best for clearing out my head of thoughts and instead turning them on within. Is it then a simple coincidence, that an album conceived for such moments lands itself in my demo bin, or is it something others may wont to call "a sign". Todd Chappell is the man behind this solo instrumental ambient project called The Ideal Setback. Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, Todd blends minimal soundscapes, swelling pads, and simple melodies with guitar infused shoegaze. The mood of the album is calm, measured, and enlightened. Somewhere, half way between nothingness and dissociated bliss, the distortion slowly creeps in, takes a bow, and steps aside for bass, only to drop you into a reverb saturated oblivion once again. Chappell is definitely crafting some of the exemplary pieces where "less" is always "more". Dream Dialogue is a perfect soundtrack for your meditations, and I can only look forward to Chappell's future output as he perfects and tweaks his skill of ambient production. Similar projects that immediately come to mind are Hammock, Stars Of The Lid, Belong and Evan Bartholomew. A previously released Demo CD is available as a free download from the Ideal Setback myspace page.
cdbaby.com/cd/idealsetback | myspace.com/theidealsetback
1 comment:
This is some utterly breathtaking music. Thanks for turning me on to Todd Chappell, HC.
Gotta go now. 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky.
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