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://distantbloom.bandcamp.com/
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