"Every day, millions of people found themselves deepened and dignified by their encounters with particular places. Most of these places, however, were not marked as special on any map. But they became special by personal acquaintance. "
Andrew Tasselmyer, one third of ambient guitar soundscape trio Hotel Neon (my single favourite ambient act currently running, for the record), returns to Shimmering Moods Records with a new album of drifting ambient soundscapes; a collection of half forgotten dreams and hazy childhood memories captured on tape. A study on memory and place, Vantage Points references the deeply personal connection we establish with certain physical locations, and how, through association and memory, these seemingly ordinary places can be infused with a meaning and context so powerful, and yet so individual to our own personal experiences; A tree that once sheltered you and a loved one from a storm, an abandoned building that you walk passed every day on the way to work, always wondering what it might look like from the inside, the mystery lending to the place a sort of unexpected wonder. These every day locales become a part of an inner geography of sorts, a map of all the places that have become important to us, even if we can't necessarily understand why.
With the use of bass, field recordings, tape manipulation, and what sounds like a slowly deteriorating piano, Tasselmyer creates something undeniably nostalgic, a sepia toned album of meditative drones that transports the listener to the very essence of memory, remembered less by their literal sights than the more abstract feelings they evoked in the moment. On Shimmering Moods' bandcamp, Tasselmyer describes Vantage Points as "literally a tape reel playing back my memories", and given the obviously individual nature of memory, that makes this a difficult record to review outside of the context of my own personal associations. Tracks like Vantage Points and Daylight, with their sustained piano notes and thick washes of static warmth, bring me to moments of early childhood, tucked safely in the backseat of my parents car on long, rainy drives through the country, lulled in and out of consciousness by the soft sound of tires on wet gravel and the hushed, comforting tone of conversation drifting from my parents front seats, while the low, billowing drones of Gunpowder inexplicably transport me to my old bedroom in the suburbs, a teenager watching from the window as leave's and trash are carried through the streets on spinning pockets of wind in the midst of an autumn storm.
As Vantage Points brings the listener through a variation of times and spaces, both physical and interior, Tasselmyers soft piano notes serve as a sort of anchor amidst an endless drift of senses; a familiar hand reaching out, gently guiding the listener through the ebbs and flows of memory, allowing one to experience the bitter and the sweet in turn, a soft reassurance flowing through the speakers that no matter what you've been through in life, all those moments and places in times have inevitably brought you to right now; and that is exactly where you need to be.