The premier release on
Laurel Halo's
Awe label,
Atlas is also the first LP from the composer, musician, and producer since the 2020 commercial release of her score for the 2018 film
Possessed. Like
Possessed and 2018's
Raw Silk Uncut Wood,
Atlas is devoid of beats if not without contoured low-end thrum. It's otherwise rather different, a flowing sequence of orchestral ambient collages with a sense of dislocation evoking everything from barren cityscapes and subaquatic vastness to flickering memories and numbed stupefaction.
Halo started with solo piano sketches she reshaped during a residency at Paris' Ina-GRM Studios, then added strings from cellist
Lucy Railton and violinist
James Underwood, saxophone from
Bendik Giske, and vocals from
Coby Sey, as well as her own voice and additional instrumentation (guitar, violin, vibraphone), followed by further treatments. These are sedate pieces light in touch if full of emotion, similar in subtle power to "Breath," the
Possessed highlight
Ryuichi Sakamoto selected as the conclusion of his funeral playlist. Piano and strings are most prominent. "Belleville" is closest to a tune with limpid keyboard melodies joined suddenly and fleetingly by cresting strings matched by the wordless voices of
Halo and
Sey. Piano elsewhere is either concealed in the mix or emerges from the atmospheres just enough to be considered a lead instrument without reaching plangency. The album is bookended by "Abandon" and "Earthbound," the two tracks with
Giske, whose presence isn't obvious, submerged and seemingly elongated amid dense constructions. It all resonates more deeply with each listen. ~ Andy Kellman
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