This brings me to the new release by John Broaddus, who past recorded under the Laocoön moniker, titled Four at Eighteen--a droning release that delivers exactly what it promises: four tracks clocking in at just over eighteen minutes each. Broaddus does not indulge the lazy writer within me, choosing instead to omit track titles altogether, denying me any convenient literate springboards with which to write from. This sonic and descriptive ambiguity may make for a shorter Ambient Review, but it's no subtle comment on Broaddus's ambient work, which is, in essence, high-quality, extremely entrancing music for late night sojourns and early morning blossomings.

Upon listening to Four at Eighteen, I was immediately pulled into the enveloping fabric of the compositions, which are generally simple and somewhat monochromatic. Track one is a gusty (and analog sounding) study of contrasting soundwashes--deep and vast, but never dark or uninviting. The closest recent comparison I can make is to Jason Sloan's recent tour de force Still, but the material here is more static, and less progressive over track length. This is music to immerse oneself in, rather than drift along with. Track two slows the drone down even further, with a synthetic tone sustained to infinity. This is the kind of drone that gradually invades your consciousness, blocking all thought (but in a good way!) until it seems that all is the drone and you are no longer inhabiting your own body. This track morphs ever so gradually into a tender and psychedelic phasing as the tones ripple like droplets on a still lake. Track three manages to sound exactly like Tibetan singing bowls (in fact, this could be a dead ringer for any of Klaus Wiese's numerous bowl works). These hushed tones carry a bassy weight as well; the low end on this track is immense and dramatic. The familiar gonging of Tibetan bowls is present here too, pleasantly breaking up the harmonic litany of overlying ambience. This track manages to capture a zen-like state of no emotion, simply allowing the listener to bask in its glowing harmonics. Finally, track four, continues the Tibetan bowl "suite" (I'm quite curious to know whether these tones are actually created on bowls, or are merely synthesised constructs). Four is more traditionally ambient, with windy tones gliding together gracefully as if the intention is to personify a slowly rotating galaxy. This track makes a beautiful, drifting finish to a quite distinctive (though somehow lacking in definable qualities!) ambient album.

Four at Eighteen is an understated and lovely album, most effective, in my opinion, as background ambience. While the tracks never quite take one's breath away, I get the impression that the intent is more to amplify the environment one is listening in, rather than supersede it. This comes with the grand tradition of classic ambience, and succeeds marvelously in this respect. I especially enjoyed the work while I slept--it's perfect for nights where your slumber drifts along with the relaxing, though never trite or sugary, tonal wash on endless repeat. Four at Eighteen makes a perfect compliment to Grassow's Bliss, Oöphoi's Behind the Wall of Sleep, and Steve Roach's Darkest Before Dawn. Fans of more progressively styled ambient drift, however, would do well to steer clear of the placid (though never stagnant) sounds herein. Four at Eighteen is the sound of glacial movement, ever so slow; things moving at the speed of seasons. An auspicious debut by a new artist well worth watching!