Letter from Belgium - LFB003 (free download)

The latest offering from the Cork ambient artist continues the strong form shown on last year's EP's. I liked LFB001 a lot, here's what I thought of it at the time.

Letter from Belgium - LFB001 EP (self-release, free download)
Elegaic guitar and synth instrumentals from Corkonian Alan Healy, employing Pajo-esque structures with field recordings (including some classic Hollywood moments if I'm not mistaken). Highlight for me is Christmas Eve, which drifts beautifully over melodramatic cinema dialogue, until the unexpected arrival of out-of-context 8-bit noises puts a different complexion on things. LFB002 coming soon apparently, which should be well worth watching out for too.

For some reason LFB002 passed me by at the time, but it is still available to listen and download for free on LFB's bandcamp, along with the 3rd edition. Go here.



Best left combines some lovely, incongruous banjo plucking with a warm bed of synth wash. Travis & Hunter (which we had on the radio show a few months back, and I assume is named after the father and son characters in the Wim Wenders film Paris, Texas) starts life as a simple, loping guitar instrumental, gathering fragments of glockenspiel and fuzz, before transforming midway through into an electro workout with live drums and 8-bit melodies. It's like the audio equivalent of watching a butterfly come out of its "shell". zzxz, on the other hand, is a beautifully sparse keyboard meditation over field recording, and achieves a churchlike atmosphere. Fine stuff, this.