As a prodigal son of Burlington, Vermont, home to Ben & Jerry’s and *yaaaawn* Phish, it’s a goddamned miracle that Greg Davis isn’t churning out some rehashed hippie shit. On the contrary, Kranky’s Greg Davis is a student of a happier, warmer school of ambient music. Sublimely optimistic and viscerally beautiful, the just-released Mutually Arising, his first full length in seven years, is the summertime evening response to Tim Hecker’s and Keith Fullerton Whitman’s icier dronescapes.

As with most work in the modern classical/minimalist/drone genre, the album is meant to be enjoyed as a whole. However, the excerpt below should demonstrate what I’m talking about. “Hall of Pure Bliss” is just that – a canticle adoring the opening to a portal, or the soundtrack to sprouting flowers. Truly beautiful stuff.

Mutually Arising just dropped this week courtesy of Kranky.

For fans of:  Stars of the Lid, Tim Hecker, Labradford

MP3 :::
Greg Davis – Hall of Pure Bliss [excerpt]