One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began
- Mary Oliver
Originally conceived on the Suffolk Coast in 2015, Of the Night Sky is a new, performance-orientated ambient music project by composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dobson (Digitonal, Alphabox).
Constructing long form ambience from generative processes, improvisation and a variety of instrumentation, it is a meditative exploration in music and images on the subject of permanence and mutability.
Releases
Coastal EP | Handstitched* Records | September 6th 2024
4 tracks of sparse modular ambient inspired directly by the Suffolk Coastal region, released on limited edition hand-made CD and short run Cassette as a split album with Jean-Emmanuel Rosnet.
These tracks were written in the winters of 2022 and 2023, between which Andrew moved to the Suffolk region. Drawing upon connections to his childhood and the intense sense of peace derived at the sparser stretches of English coastline, the record used generative techniques, modular synthesis and improvisation to create a portrait of the landscape without directly referencing it.
The shifting sands of the beach at Sizewell, morning birdsong when arriving before dawn and the freedom of escape are all captured in music which hints at melody and form but restrains itself in the moment.
The record is released on the 6th of September 2024 and is available physically and digitally at the Handstitched* Records Bandcamp.
Artwork by Oonagh Digby and Andrew Dobson
"But that day, as I sat on the tranquil shore, it was possible to believe one was gazing into eternity." - WG Sebald, Rings of Saturn