Philip Croaton – Easy

Text taken from monocromatica

«Our russian ambient master Philip Croaton returns home, this time with a reissue of a 2008 CDR-only (and very, very limited) release called 'Easy'.
Once again, he worked with long-time collaborator Ilia Belorukov on saxophone but also with Maxim V. Komov on guitar and Tatiana Komova on spoken word.

'Easy' is a deep ambient masterpiece, with heavily melancholic and sometimes dark soundscapes. Sci-fi soundtracks also come to mind when listening to 'Abandoned', specifically Cliff Martinez's 'Solaris' work - curiously or maybe not, this film is a remake of a 1972's original, by Andrei Tarkovsky, famed russian filmmaker. Another film that comes to mind is 'Stalker' (1979), also from Tarkovsky, but in this case is the ambient of the narrative itself that Croaton's music evokes, post-apocalyptic and abandoned facilities, near damaged nuclear plants and the like. 'Stalker' also inspired a video-game franchise with the same name (ukrainian made) in which 'Easy' would fit like a glove as soundtrack.
'Abandoned' is easily the best and most accomplished track by Croaton on this release, a true ambient masterpiece, simple, dense and deeply nostalgic.

The production design and mastering is also of note. Every single bit of 'Easy' sounds as if it was processed using very old, very vintage synthesizers and devices, giving it all a sense of russian analogue production. You imagine rooms filled with wall-heigh electronic machinery working to produce all the sounds you hear.

Listen and downloade her