AL_X – Low Clouds (Fluttery Records, 2020)
AL_X, the project of British musician and composer Alex Dunford, has a new album titled Low Clouds. The set includes 17 short electronic music pieces that combine melody, orchestral synths, environmental field recordings and mesmerizing ambient music.
Alex Dunford says about Low Clouds: “It’s a lot calmer than previous albums, more ambient – perhaps a more cohesive album as a whole…I started listening to more drone based music, often to get to sleep! I think that subconsciously had an influence on the whole project.”
Dunford tested many different musical pieces until he got the right ones: “I wiped songs hundreds of times and started from scratch. I did struggle for a while, so I cracked open Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards and used them from time to time when I hit a wall.
They’d give me an answer of sorts. ‘Beyond Perception’ is a track which benefited from that as did ‘Auf Ver Loven’, That started as a techno track!’ Then there was ‘Endless Sleep Ensemble’ – the last thing to be finished, that came from a session with a string section I recorded in 2014 that I assumed I’d lost.”
The majority of the music was performed by AL_X. Vocalist Jeff Jepson returns on one song.
Buy Low Clouds