Olan Mill “Cultivator”

04 Oct 2013 — Henning Lahmann

According to the label's press release, Hiraeth, a word of Welsh origin, "is defined as homesickness for a home to which you cannot return". Unsurprisingly, longing for the indistinct, inaccessible is the defining element of the latest work of Englishman Alex Smalley, who records music under the moniker Olan Mill. Exploring the crossroads between contemporary classical and more pop-infused and folk-indebted ambient experimentalism, Smalley's compositions are introspective musings that perfectly accompany solitary walks through whatever environment seemed familiar and trustworthy just a moment ago, now having obtained a sense of vague alienation. The five pieces on Hiraeth never evoke feelings of desolation or devastation, but the artist's music is invariably far away from easy listening pleasures, either. An arrangement like centrepiece "Cultivator" is truly beautiful in the strict sense, leaning towards the sublime; yet the music does not let go of an ambiguous suspense that is aimed at the listener's subliminal perception. This is autumn music, a work that doesn't call for passive absorption of the inevitabe change around us but for commitment, for a wanderer's dialogue with the passing of time.

Hiraeth is out this month on Preservation.