Ambient music has never been more necessary. Lives are lived at a faster pace than ever and digital communications mean we never fully switch off. For these reasons and more, cerebral detoxes are vital and what better way is there to disconnect and reconnect than by immersing yourself in ambient music?
French-born LA-based artist Hugo Paris has a special gift for crafting gorgeous soundtracks that can soothe the soul and calm even the most overactive minds. This is evidenced in his new album ‘Nouvelles Aurores’ – eight tracks of ambient, suspensory synth drift and weightless melodic magic.
Out now on Decoy Recordings, and a submission for this year’s GRAMMY awards, ‘Nouvelles Aurores’ is an unhurried unfurling of sound that blissfully casts you further and further adrift from the real world with each passing track.
“While my previous album ‘Threaded Habitat’ was about the end of cycles, ‘Nouvelles Aurores’ is about new beginnings,” says Hugo. “It’s about facing one’s fragility in the face of change, both good and bad, and embracing it as a compass for growth.”
Photo Credited to: Clamber
‘Golden Milk’ opens like a beautifully elegant spring awakening with angelic choral vocals rising to the heavens, while ‘Duality’ is rich and ponderous. A collaboration with Slow Coast, ‘Chroma’ encourages inward reflection, its textures evoking a sense of sadness gracefully contrasted with glimmers of hope.
‘Blossoms’ is a sonic reverie, a dreamscape of melody so pure and immersive that it has the power to momentarily suspend time itself. Within its intricate layers, AMULETS, a master of ambient texture, weaves additional depth, elevating the track to a realm where reality blurs, and the ethereal takes hold. As you listen, you’ll find yourself adrift in a sea of tranquility, carried by the gentle currents of sound, while ‘L’echo des Brumes’, featuring Nathan Moody’s field recordings, keeps you floating in serenity.
‘Red Celluloid’ has a moodier undercurrent and a nagging sense of foreboding that melts away with the infinite expanses of ‘Wilt’, another collaboration with AMULETS. Last of all, Hugo calls upon Tyler Stone – one of the first breakout female house music producers in the US – to bring her delicate touch to the nuanced rhythm and deep rubbery pulses of ‘Sunset’. With its subtle sense of movement, this sympathetic closer softens the blow as you re-enter the real world and hop back on the wheel of life.
“In the vast sea of guidance surrounding confidence and affirmations, I wanted to propose a perspective of compassion towards the most fragile parts of the self,” reflects Hugo. “It helps me to remember that vulnerability is not a weakness but a sign of our humanity; we all have moments of fragility. I hope this album allows listeners to find tranquility in self-compassion.”
As the world continues its frenetic pace, ‘Nouvelles Aurores’ stands as an oasis of tranquility, inviting all who listen to find solace, introspection, and the beauty of self-compassion in its harmonious embrace.
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