ALMOST AN ISLAND Vinyl & CDs

Review: Past Inside The Present is back with another of its quietly powerful ambient records, this time from Almost An Island, which is a collaboration between Kenneth James Gibson and husband and wife duo James and Cynthia Bernard. This black version of the self-titled oeuvre drifts through ambient, Americana and experimental soundscapes with musical elegance and tasteful restraint. Muted textures, swirling guitar, pedal steel and subtle vocals create a mood that draws you in close but is also grand in scale. Tracks like 'Quadrivium' and 'What Got Us To Our Feet' blur the line between memory and melody, while 'Palo Verde' and 'Promise to Fade' linger like a half-remembered dream. This isn't ambient as background-it's a fully formed emotional landscape that is both meditative and melancholic.

Review: Almost An Island unites Kenneth James Gibson with James and Cynthia Bernard (aka marine eyes) for a quietly stunning ambient collaboration (would you really expect anything less on this fine label?) Blending tape hiss, vaporous textures, pedal steel and delicate guitar work, the album evokes themes of impermanence and emotional connection and hints of Americana ripple through tracks like 'In Light Of' and 'Wide Open' while the lead single 'What Got Us To Our Feet' swells into an aching crescendo of voice and strings. It is a deeply introspective yet expansive record that demands you carve out a tranquil sonic space in which to hear it, and the results are intimate, cinematic and beautiful.