[reviews] afe097lcd
mathieu ruhlmann: the earth grows in each of us

Mathieu Ruhlmann is a visual and sound artist from Vancouver, British Columbia. He initially composed music just to accompany his visual art, but I'm guessing it became apparent to him soon enough that he had talent for creating music and thrived to start releasing his music in physical forms for others to enjoy.

Mathieu's music has been released on various labels throughout the world and he's also contributed many tracks to compilations. His most recent, "The Earth Grows In Each of Us" has been released by Afe Records, and limited to just hundred copies like most albums on this label.

I think it's a bit interesting that the first song on this album is only a minute long while the last track is thirty minutes in length and actually consisting of three different parts. Kind of like a quick shot of whiskey that easily leaves your mouth but at the end of the album it comes back up and lingers in there for half and hour.

Of course had I just read about the album I would have known exactly what he was up to on this album. Interestingly track one is one minute, while two is nine, three is seven, and four is six, which in this case is the year Mathieu was born, 1976.

Track five is thirty minutes since Mathieu was that age when this album was composed and it's divided into three ten minute segments representing an event in his life. A fairly interesting and different concept if you ask me.

Anyway, Mathieu's music is within the ambient field, although it's not the usual synthesizer ambient but rather one that consists entirely of field recordings and various acoustic instruments.

The music generally has a dark and progressive touch to it, especially in the thirty minute epic, "Holding Light". However even as the music does have a dark tone, it still has this sort of quality that suggests hope is on the horizon and good times are to come. Of course this album is supposed to be a document of both good and bad times from Mathieu's life so it makes perfect sense.

At just a few minutes under and hour this album is an easy and relaxing ambient record that just about anyone can appreciate. Definitely recommended for the ambient enthusiasts out there. (8/10)

[JJM]