Search - Vidna Obmana :: Memories Compiled 2

Like his friend and sometimes collaborator Steve Roach, Vidna Obmana makes ambient music of many stripes. At times it's suffused with soft tribal percussion, at others with postindustrial noise, and still others with guitar or saxophone. But Obmana's most satisfying recordings have always been those bereft of ornamentation--keyboard-based music that drifts languidly, providing a sonic foundation for personal introspection or just daydreaming. This double-disc rerelease of two previously cassette-only albums, Near the Flogging Landscape and Refined on Gentle Clouds, is just such a recording, from Obmana's fruitful late '80s/early '90s period. Glacial pacing and minimal variation are tinged with a quiet melancholy, producing a series of dark yet hopeful soundscapes capable of evoking anything from a swath of snow-covered tundra ("Floes on Miracles") to a vast, empty desert ("Nearly Constant"). Like its predecessor, Memories Compiled 2 offers more than two hours' worth of relaxing, meditative sound that's textured enough to reward attentive listening. --Steve Landau