D.C.-area musician Tristan Welch uses minimalist forms to pursue a kind of coldly emotive music. His earlier EP this year, reviewed by me here, gave us a taste of this, but his newest record, Ambient Distress, is far more successful. The album, out now via Somewhere Cold, is suprirsingly warm for being so sparse in spots. It stands, with earlier offerings from area pioneers Anthony Pirog and Tone, as a perfect example of how to use ambient music for emotional ends.
With track-titles which reflect this pandemic year's fears, Ambient Distress works up a momentum that's alternately elegant and obsessively focused. Opener "Employment Frustration" is harsh, even if the roughness is stretched out, while "Family Stress" is more spacious. On this one, Welch's tone, and the various sounds around the central figure, conspire to conjure up something that's oddly warm. Elsewhere, "Social Hopelessness" pursues a similar vibe, veering into territory that's very similar to that found on some Harold Budd albums, even as "Recreational Anxiety" is louder still, a wash of guitar that flows out and slowly and unrelentingly overwhelms a listener like a wave. Closer "Economic Fear" recalls moments on Philip Glass recordings where the beautiful sounds roll over a listener, and the overall sound surges, however slowly.
Tristan Welch is a kind of magician here, given how little this sounds like a guitar-based record. The sounds are organic and oddly electronic in style, with the entire effect being one which recalls old John Adams recordings, or Steve Reich ones. Still, Welch is not interested in repeating figures or patterns as much as he's interested in an overall sound. Tristan's best tracks feel like time has slowed down, and moments of lush beauty are being pulled and stretched around us as listeners.
Ambient Distress is out now via Somewhere Cold.
More details on Tristan Welch via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Tristan Welch]