So here are some of my favourite of 2014 so far

*Sontag Shogun – Tale [Ambient/ Modern Classical]

Album debut from an Ambient Electronic Piano Trio who are former members of the post rock band [the] slowest runner [in all the world]. Delicate and cathartic .

*Origamibiro – Odham’s Standard [Ambient/ Modern Classical]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw9BIGUE7u0

Another trio working in a very similar vein to Sontag Shogun, They continue making fantastic music here on the 3rd album (not including the remix album) there’s beauty in all the details, the precisely placed field recordings, like the flapping of the butterfly wings to the finger tapping melodies.

*Deru – 1979 [ Ambient/Electronic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cozq_IxGj4M

On his 4th Solo album Deru lessens the heavier breaks for more of an ambient wash and heart plucking, nostalgic tone and subtle repeated beats. It’s beautifully haunting and reflective.

*Kyle Bobby Dunn – Kyle Bobby Dunn and the Infinite Sadness [ Drone ]

https://soundcloud.com/studentsofdecay/sets/kyle-bobby-dunn-infinite-sadness

I have a complex relationship with Drone, There’s often a fine line between me loving it and finding it a little dull. And I definitely can’t listen to it without lying down and doing nothing. But Kyle Bobby Dunn continues at the top of his game. Several comparisons have rightly been made with The Stars of The Lid.

*Orcas – Yearling [Ambient/ Indie / Experimental]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO_xDc4crog

Perhaps stretching the boundaries of the implied genres as they’ve now wondered in to shoe gaze territory but I think this has to count. Having added more members since their debut this second album understandably has much more of a band feel, but the subtle wash of instruments and hushed lullaby vocal remain.

*Memory Drawings – There is No Perfect Place { Modern Classical/ Experimental / Ambient/ Folk]

It’s their sophomore album and I think a step up, Dulcimer, guitars, violin and occasional vocal combine for an eclectic and relaxing journey. The album included versions of the tracks remixed by the likes of Talvihorros, Benoit Pioulard, Pausal and William Ryan Fritch.