Dag Rosenqvist & Simon Scott: Conformists (Low Point)

This collaboration between ambient expressionists Dag Rosenqvist (a.k.a. Jasper TX) and Simon Scott (best known as the drummer on Slowdive’s first couple of albums) harnesses each artist’s knack for droning somnambulism. The music was composed for a film of the same name with very little material for the duo to work from (only some storyboard imagery), and so they created a score for what they imagined the film would be like. Despite being two long tracks (“Part 1” and “Part 2”), there are actually ten pieces, so these play more like sides of a record with tracks within. “Part 1” begins as an extended murmur, fitting in well against Rosenqvist’s repertoire than Scott’s; there’s no feedback and mostly looped ambient pads. Despite occasional hints at evolving into something more menacing, most of Conformists squirms below the surface, sedate and somewhat severe. Only occasionally does something more tangible emerge from the cloud, and even then it’s fleeting. But that ephemeral quality is what makes it compelling, like so much of the respective artists’ repertoires. It’s haunting in an almost literal sense, like the ghost of some long forgotten soundtrack, leaving only traces of itself but still evoking and emoting.

Buy it: Bandcamp | iTunes | Boomkat | Amazon

<a href=“http://lowpoint.bandcamp.com/album/conformists” _mce_href=“http://lowpoint.bandcamp.com/album/conformists”>Conformists by Low Point</a>