Amongst Myselves is Australian ambient
musician Steve Roberts who’s “Auburn Silhouette” (released
April 10th 2007) is his fourth album. Like its former album, it’s
accompanied by a dvd featuring some great nature footage to 3 audio
tracks. From the start it becomes clear Steve’s music has further
grown, although he apologizes for the fact he needed more time to finish
this album after all. As Roberts states in the press-sheet, each track
on the album evokes a different environmental experience, with inspiration
drawn from outback South Australia and 12 months working and travelling
overseas. “Greybox Shadow” sets out with great ambient,
highly cinematic soundscapes and environmental sounds, nicely followed
by the mellow textures of “Bay of Dreams”. Next comes “Star”,
a more darker sound trip with analogue/experimental fx’s. “Munstead
Heath” clocks over 9 minutes and is a far more experimental/industrial
sounding track offering rather uneasy atmospheres and strange fx’s.
“Hole in the Sky” is rhythmic composition with drums and
guitar sounds, capturing a nice uplifting but also laid-back feel, while
the nice sculptured soundscapes of the dreamy “Southern Lights”
soon get company of minimal tabla-like rhythms. The spacy, delicates
shapes of “Up into the air…” takes us into smooth
atmospheres and beyond with additional environmentals. The uptempo “Winter
of the Falling Stars” is a fine instrumental guitar based track
to close the cd.
Although contrast
is a major theme throughout this excellent produced album, make sure
to tap into this well crafted, varied ambient journey through the elements.