‘Vessels of Time’ Revisited

Today we revisit one of our personal favourite albums released on the Insight label, the incredible ambient album ‘Vessels of Time’.

Read our interview with Fading Language here.

‘Vessels of Time‘ by Washington based producer Fading Language was released earlier this year and has certainly secured its place in becoming one of the most touching of ambient electronica albums.

We have to go back to early winter in 2017, just as the morning became increasingly bitter and the dark of night overshadowed that of day. Anthony (Fading language) had recently sent me over a copy of the album to stream in full via Soundcloud in which I’d eagerly been anticipating. I have this routine when it comes to listening to submissions, I’ll listen once through the loudspeakers and then once through the headphones. It gives me this perspective of music enjoyed in an open environment but also in a very personal and engaging space, a technique I brought with me from my days of endlessly mixing and mastering my very amateur tracks back in 2010.

This experience, however, was a little different.

There are things that happen to me emotionally when I listen to music that are so independent I find it hard to explain. This was beyond the hairs on the back of your neck standing up, it was much deeper than that, almost spiritual. I tend to read books on self-enlightenment and how to truly appreciate the present, books by authors such as Alan Watts and Eckhart Tolle. I was never a bookworm, far from it, but over the past couple of years, these books have certainly brought me peace in what I believe is a very distracting lifestyle a majority of us now live.

This album had such a strong connection with me from the start that it’s always an album I go back to enjoy. There are two tracks in-particular which really speak to me, ‘Tomorrow; Never‘ and ‘Macros‘, two of the lesser known singles from the album, but still two perfectly executed pieces in their own right.

‘Tomorrow; Never‘ is a short instrumental piece that begins with a darker, almost sincere tone. I’m surrounded by a distracting and unclear pallet of atmospheric sounds and crackle, a distorted voice speaks to me, it’s almost like there’s a sense of distress throughout the first 60 seconds that lends a feeling of uncertainty, turbulence. We are then awoken to a delicate and gentle piano piece, a chord structure I adore. A cello melody layers the piano to create a moving section that ends the track beautifully.

‘Macros‘ is the single that really captures the essence and raw beauty of the album. A subtle atmospheric piece of pure harmony that is profound by the gentle swaying of oscillating tones, rainfall and narrative. I’m enraptured by this piece, I truly am. I remember experiencing the single for the first time, I felt still, at peace with everything I am and ever was.

It’s truly amazing how ambient music of this nature can make us feel, hopefully, this is an experience you feel too.