ASTER “Light in the Valley” (Distant Bloom)

 


ASTER “Light in the Valley” (Distant Bloom)

 

Dominic Van Horn is the Memphis-based art teacher who records under the name of Aster. His new tape Light in the Valley is not merely a title describing a collection of music – it’s also a way of life. This is the kind of delicate ambient that overlays the actual magic hour every day of every gorgeous valley in existence. Van Horn lightly produces New Age key textures to accompany sunlight as it catches every soft color, every mote of dust and pollen in the atmosphere. It actively attracts sunbeams through billowing clouds, flecked with pink and offset by the blue sky around them. Dominic Van Horn has spent some quality time outdoors at the right time of day.

 

As you probably can imagine, the half-dreamed surreality of these moments is fleeting, but Van Horn is an adept guide through this hypnotic state. Wherever he is, he makes me want to be there. Vision and mental image blur with the audio suggestions, leaving a distinct pastel smear across the mind. Light in the Valley is like a deep breath of color that hits every part of your body at once, and allows you to float along on a breeze, rejecting every ounce of stress that could possibly still be in your body. It’s an antidote to the fast pace – it’s a mental vacation you can take every day.

 

https://aster.bandcamp.com/

 

https://distantbloom.bandcamp.com/

 

--Ryan