A Quiet Shimmering
released 12.31.2023
A Quiet Shimmering is the new LP from ambient sound artist Todd Stapleton. It is his first full-length release since Resonance / Forms. in 2017 and his thirteenth release overall.
A Quiet Shimmering is seven tracks spanning nearly eighty minutes in length. The album is a palette of rich sounds that are reminiscent of late-70s progressive ambient music. Kaleidoscopic layers of ambient synth patterns intertwine with sparse electronics, cascading piano bits and a myriad of other processed sounds that flow together and coalesce into a sea of ambient bliss.
This latest release showcases a diversity of sounds and approach that shows a slight change in focus from his earlier releases with a more compositional approach rather than the free-form improvisation so prevalent in his recent works. This slight shift harkens back to his 2017 debut Requiem For A Dying Sea, his showcase composition and to date one of his greatest musical achievements.
A Quiet Shimmering is a reflection of Stapleton's innate interest in creating compositions that foster complexity and a myriad of variations within the simple structures and elements of pieces such as "Steps In And Out Of Balance" and the album's centerpiece "The Expanding Distance Between Two Points". This is immersive ambient music with a sonic ferocity and expansive motion that is unconventional and unconfined.
Tracklisting:
1. Something I Remember Having Read (11:55)
2. Steps In And Out Of Balance (8:36)
3. Two Identical Windows (5:50)
4. Fragment (3:50)
5. The Expanding Distance Between Two Points (27:27)
6. Only Without Shape (6:47)
7. Night Falls On Nagoya (14:14)
total running time 78:39