Tag Archives: ambient

Instrumentally blissful: Balmorhea

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I simply can’t get enough of listening to the experimental wonders of Balmorhea. My job as a web developer sometimes requires me to tune the outside world and focus on the piece of code I am writing. The classical acoustic styles of Balmorhea can put anyone in the zone, however some side effects may include: lower heart rate and sleepiness; as most of their songs are accompanied by a mellow tempo. They are very close to be considered classical music yet their style is extremely modern with recognizable rock influences. Formed in 2006, Rob Lowe and Michael Muller from Austin, Texas have been touring around the United States and promoting their three albums they have released thus far.

Their songs are not just piano notes and violins, they have strong experimental tendencies. In the song “In the Rowans” they manage to incorporate a typewriter typing away in sync with the piano’s tempo as you hear what it appears to be a movie film rolling in the background. Other songs are more ambient like “A Circumnavigation” with two crisp and clear guitars playing and raindrops in the background. My favorite song is titled “Settler” from their album “All is Wild, All is Silent” released March 2009. A heavy layered song that brings together a variety of different instruments as well the appearance vocals – a rare thing to come across as most of their songs are just instrumental.

Finally I want to mention “Winters”, a beautiful but much darker piano driven song. The repetitive progression of the piano with the soothing and almost sadden violin in the backgrounds, along with the constant crescendos and decrescendos give the song a much deeper emotional meaning. Overall, Balmorhea is one of the greatest instrumental/ambient bands I have come across and urge you to check out their new CD “All is Wild, All is Silent”

Settler – Balmorhea

”Settler”

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The Winters – Balmorhea

”The Winters”

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Mellow Music Madness

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From her solo debut album titled “Sea Sew” comes Irish singer Lisa Hannigan‘s first single “Lille”, a mellow melodic instrumental song that is bound to lower your heart-rate. Her album Sea Sew was released in Ireland on September 2008 and then an American release followed February 2009. You can check Lisa receiving the Colbert Bump when she appeared on the Colbert Report here.

“Lille” – Lisa Hannigan

”Lille”

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This second song comes from American-born musician Sean Fournier. In his album “Oh My” (available for free download) spreads across many genres including folk, acoustic and pop. The song “Another like you” really stands out as the slow tempo and mellow acoustic in the background enables him to showcase his great signing voice. He is on a quest to spread his music around the world, and judging by the many great songs on his albums, I will definitely join his cause. Go to http://www.sean-fournier.com/ohmy/ to download “Oh My”!

“Another like you” – Sean Fournier

”Another like you”

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Quebec Antique is a project by duo Andy Dollerson and Michael Blake. Their Album “The Abbey Tapes” is a mix between Ambient and Electronica with sprinkles of Pop thrown in. If you like this song I highly recommend that you listen to “Right as Rain”, which sounds similar to some of Dntel and Imogen Heap’s slower, more ambient songs. You can listen to their whole album at their virb.com

“Sleep” – Quebec Antique

”Sleep”

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Have any other suggestions to add to this list of Mellow Music? Comment Below!

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