21/10/22

We've been so happy at Home Normal to work with regular contributors to the label, and this has now evolved as we invited two of our small family of artists to release back-to-back albums with us. Early next year will see two albums from Wil Bolton which we are incredibly excited to share, whilst we are very proud to present 'frayed' and 'hope remain' from the truly wonderful anthéne this autumn.

Anyone who has followed the ambient scene in recent years will have come across the work of this highly-respected artist from both his solo work and regular collaborations. Brad also runs the excellent Polar Seas Recordings label from his native Canada.

Brad's work is typically based on carefully constructed guitar and synth structures using slowly-evolving loops. Whilst both 'hope remain' and 'frayed' continue this vein of sound for Brad, his source of instrumentation over the creative period evolved slightly to incorporate percussive elements. 'hope remain' is a slight variation in that it was based upon processed piano and string works.

As Brad notes:

''hope remain' initially started with processed piano and string loops, and was expanded upon with guitar, glockenspiel and tongue drum. The title is in reference to Frida Kahlo’s painting 'Tree of Hope, Remain Strong'. In addition to being a beautiful work or art, the idea at the centre of this painting really struck me. With so much potential for despair (with climate change, right wing politics, etc.), I still really want to try to see the good in all of us, the potential for us to do the right thing (as impossible as it seems sometimes). The album is hopeful at its core.'

Thank you

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