It’s hard to believe that 2017 was six years ago, but for many of us, it only feels like two or three have passed. We’re still using the same ipods, listening to the same music, and some of us have even managed to fit back into the same clothes. But if you were to listen to Human and Landmass back to back, you would hear the development of an ambient artist floating from one trajectory to the next. Jon Cooper, or Turtle to New Sounds readers, has designed an album that is rich with atmosphere, opportunity and reflection, making it a worthy successor to the refined 2017 masterwork, Humans.
Inspired in part by the sparse, agrarian surroundings in Argyll, Turtle lets the geography guide the work, culminating in a songcraft that is lush, detailed and deeply reverent of the country that helped to birth the record. Exceptionally well produced, Landmass is a landmark of sonic invention, and intense focus. It’s like listening to a Ravi Shankar album: considered, prolonged, but infinitely worth the wait. Landmass will be released to the public on March 24th.
Key Track: “Mars”: Released to the public on January 18th, the song is full of memorable moments, packing more into one song than many do across an entire EP (or, indeed, an album.) An energetic blend of time signatures, the tune plays with the heart and the head, by way of a pastoral instrumental that flirts with 1970s progressive rock. It starts off in a conventional manner, but then the battiness rears its head, and the song takes a wholly different shape entirely. By the close, it’s been brooding and black, as well as cabalistic and vivid, earmarking it a shoo in for a future Christopher Nolan feature. As well as boasting the prestige, the single similarly holds a memento that will appeal to cinephiles and music lovers alike.
Photo: Facebook (Turtle)
