While I was creating the six ambient electronic tracks that make up Vistula Drift I was focussed on the idea of letting synthesised sound and field recordings sit obviously alongside each other, with common elements across tracks tying this collection together.

I started with CV-sequenced improvisations on a minimal modular and semi-modular setup, recording the resulting tones into Bitwig. The first single track version of this is included in the download, and acts as a source for tracks Three, One and Two as well as sharing common field recordings with all tracks on Vistula Drift. The source material is often doubled, pitch shifted, and elements come and go. Some of the tracks are dominated by synthesized sounds, while others incorporate field recordings of natural noise in a much more obvious way.

As I was arranging the tracks, I decided to challenge my ears by leaving elements to sit for longer, or reemerge more often. I like this aspect of ambient music making, having the opportunity to listen past the changes in sound to be left to hear new features of the existing material. While most of the synthesised material is simple and tonal, I hope patient listening will get your ears inside the sound material.

Close your eyes, and let the music take you for a walk alongside a synthesised Vistula River of long ago and far into the future.