Make Sea Halos – Stranded Oceans EP

Artist: Make Sea Halos
Title: Stranded Oceans EP
Keywords: acid ambient experimental Port Talbot
Label: Transmos Records

So what we have here? A reading visitor! How nice of you to drop by! You are right on time to see what had stranded down my professional music reviewer’s desk; a EP by Make Sea Halos! As a matter of fact, I’ll take this coincidental happening to write some stuff about it, giving you a bunch of letters that form words, that (if it works!) might get you a slight impression how it would sound like if you, yourself, had been stranded upon this particular release. It’s a strange way of approaching this Stranded Oceans EP, as I do not think (for example) a ocean named Robinson Crusoe would have had the opportunity to play actual pre-made music when stranded on a island; the stranded legendary ocean would have to bang a coconut and whistle & perhaps play the hairs of hairy beard like a guitar if there was the need for some musical entertainment.. I’m not sure if that would sound any good, as oceans don’t even have hands or beards, but I’m sure it would sound entirely different from the tracks on this more high/tech sounding collection.

It all starts with ‘Forever Minded’ which is the loopiest relaxant in the ambient side of the music spectrum. Everything compact and lovely, like a warm embrace that seems to keep hugging on repeat. Luckily for the people bored of shapeless ambient music, this has the shape but also comes with a comfortable rhythm to keep you awake as it plays. Think of lots of reversed experiment within these layers over here, as it seems to be a trademark among all the tracks on this release. Good to know, right?

How..Did..You..Know features them, but also each and every word that you can find in the track’s title. With these words, reversed sweetness and slightly rattling electronic beats it feels almost as if this something that a normal person would probably classify as pop-ambient or ambient-pop. It’s a romance between these two genres that seems to be one that cannot be broken. It’s definitely not unpleasant to host these stranded oceans in your ears!

After this it’s a tune named ‘starlight’. One that opens nicely and folds out like a whisper that glides over a intriguing tongue. Wet and slippery, warm and sensual; it’s one of them that muffled my ears with pleasure and secret delights. Also here we are seduced by seductive repetitions, a thing that keeps it rhythmically up and running. You could sleep with this music, but it doesn’t feel as a necessity, you could definitely enjoy it as a backdrop while still fully awake and conscious. Pretty handy!

The ‘So High’ feels very right for the ‘rare’ moment that the sun is out and you have just puffed away on a green high-making popsicle. There are these warm vocal bits trapped in the blurry tripiness over here, singing popular party things like ‘put your hands up’ but mysteriously mixed to turn it into a warm psychedelic ingredient from a hot brewed audio drug instead of it being the vocal lead in a concrete song in the popular hit charts. I think it’s wonderful, especially a good hear mixed with sunny days, yourself with some power-puff in the lungs and of course a satisfied liver.

The last bit of music is ‘For Otherness’, which in all fairness seems to have captured the vibe of being locked in by some kind of twilight situation. A slight feverish nightmare that is oddly trapping the ears into a loophole that sounds strangely satisfying in a just-woken-up & where-the-hell-am-I kind of way. I guess it makes sense as this might be the music that serves as the troubling wake up call; you are a ocean stranded on a deserted island! … well, not really… but if you would pretend this situation while this music plays, it feels entirely fitting. Is this the thing that you needed right now? Be free to hear what’s going on at the following link as that will probably make much more sense than anything that you have just read about it:

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