Pausal – Pausal EP [Highpoint Lowlife]

Is the summer over? Well if it is this new EP from ambient outfit Pausal will usher in the autumn with ease, as the beautiful crisp leaves on the front cover suggest this is music full of hushed autumnal tones. These manifest themselves in drones and collages of sound that sooth and mesmerise. Pausal is made up of Alex who’s solo project Alpine. I’ve featured before and Simon, two good friends from rural Hampshire with a passion for recording. The duo have shared bills with the likes of Stars Of The Lid and Grouper to name but a few and this is the re-mastered re-release of their 2007 EP with added material.

The hum of twilight ushers in the opening track ‘Heroes=Dogs’, distant recordings of wildlife play under ebbing drones. The music sounds orchestral, the way everything flows so subtly as one drone picks up where the other left and layers immerge are just wonderful Pausal know how to hypnotise. If you’ve enjoyed the wonderful GAS albums then this could well be for you. The melancholic violins of ‘Song From A Cloth Pocket’ resonate with a shimmering beauty, its ambiance at its most laid back. There is something slightly Selected Ambient Works about this track. You can almost feel the atmosphere you get just after the sun has set and the full darkness is yet to come in this music, the sound of life slowing down and resting after a long day. There is a very natural feel to Pausal everything is so organic it sounds like its so embedded in the world around us, like they’ve tapped into it and brought it out in song. The two additional tracks end the EP the first being ‘Place (Revisited)’ which has apparently been tweaked a little and a new track taken from the same recording sessions as the original 2007 material ‘Sami Submerged’. The former is full of subtle orchestral swells and beautiful drawn out reverb-drenched drones that ring with a vibrant shimmering colour. The closer is so atmospheric the way it starts just suggests a space, a hazy space in which these orchestral drones edge slowly closer.

Pausal have created a beautifully subtle EP that is just perfect to mull over in the early evening with the lights low, you can play it loud or immerse yourself in it with headphones late into the night either way the music takes you away with it and is immensely relaxing. The group are currently recording their debut LP, which is pencilled in for release in the winter and I for one look forward to how they progress.

Buy: Pausal – Pausal EP [Highpoint Lowlife] MP3 & FLAC £3

http://www.myspace.com/pausal

http://pausal.net/