1 Mile North - The Sunken Nest
Much as I love minimalist and ambient music, it can be tricky to review or even talk about because to explain what makes a particular ambient album "good" somewhat eludes the confines of language. Some of my favorite ambient acts- Kali Malone, Maria w Horn, Ellen Arkbro, Hollie Kenniff, Stars of the Lid, Eluvium- occasionally produce songs or even full albums of little more than a few droning notes. The act of describing what is meaningful about such austere music inherently requires you to delve into what a song even is, and how a series of notes weaves its way into your psyche or our life. That's a long wind up to say that ambient project 1 Mile North is one of the most important musical acts in my personal biography and the album they released this week, "The Sunken Nest," is a beautiful reminder of exactly why that is. 20 years ago, I had a soul-draining job that sucked up too much of my time for comically little compensation. The best part of my day was, ...