Rudy Adrian: A Walk in the Shadow Garden
Spotted Peccary Music

Scan the album titles in Rudy Adrian's discography and it becomes immediately clear which zone within the ambient genre he's staked out for himself. Releases such as MoonWater, Desert Realms, Distant Stars, Coastlines, and Woodlands indicate he's someone who uses the natural world as a foundation for his musical productions, primarily the world immediately around us but realms far above us too. In calling his eighth release on Spotted Peccary A Walk in the Shadow Garden, the New Zealand-based producer continues his practice of drawing inspiration from nature.

As a student who earned a degree in Botany (the University of Otago) and studied Forestry Science (the University of Canterbury) while also nurturing his development as an electronic music producer, the idea of combining music and nature was something he naturally gravitated towards. That Adrian also is proficient on acoustic instruments like wood flute, piano, and guitar contributes greatly to the richness of the eleven evocations on his latest release.

At the album's beginning, the title track immerses the listener instantly within a serene oasis of reverberant acoustic guitar chords, shimmering synthesizer textures, and percussive flourishes suggestive of insect and animal life. A picture quickly forms of a hazy outdoors setting where cicadas and birds reside, along with countless other non-human species. The opening track alone testifies to Adrian's highly developed talent for creating sound paintings of remarkable sophistication. What stands out in particular is his sensitivity to detail and the evocative potential of certain sounds. Chimes and other percussive elements often punctuate the patient unfurl of a given piece, and the inclusion of a faint knocking sound in “Dawn Redwood” establishes the almost subliminal presence of a woodpecker.

Whereas a minimal arrangement of elements contributes to the ethereal impression established by “Clouds Over Fields,” the denser array created for “Hemlock Grove” suggests an entangled nature setting through which a path must be cleared by the undeterred hiker. As soothing as the album generally is, it's not without an occasional moment of disturbance. That arrives most conspicuously in “Rising Mist,” whose ominous tonalities and rumbling bass drops intimate the imminent onset of some punishing storm. The environmental threat carries over into “Dark Waters,” whose mysterious whooshes and swirls suggest a dangerous undertow awaits anyone stepping into its waves. In perhaps the least programmatically suggestive piece, “Perchance to Dream” less conjures a nature-based vista than Hamlet's “To be or not to be” soliloquy.

June 2023