Archives (Complete Collection), by Abstract Aprils

Archives (Complete Collection) by Abstract Aprils, released 27 October 2023 1. Know Thyself 2. Wonder to Wisdom 3. Mason and a Midwife 4. Knowledge and Ignorance 5. Ceiling of the Heart 6. Silentmyst 7. In the Dwelling 8. To Flee the Noise 9. Atonement's Symphony 10. Echoes Weight 11. Innocence Burden 12. A Dance with Darkness 13. Everything that Happens 14. It is Royal 15. Natural to a Vine 16. Past or Future 17. Present Only [Bandcamp Exclusive] They say every day is a new opportunity. And yet, is not every day influenced by, and a reaction to, in some degree, our previous days? Is there not a touch of our past in every present moment? One could say the same about a song - every song is a new expression. Each note and sonic texture is a new life. In and of itself, that's an exciting and breathtaking thought. And at the same time, there's a beauty to the infusion of creative influences, built up over our lifetime, through others' music and even our own, in each new song. The old and the new, living in harmony. For the innovative ambient-electronic artist Abstract Aprils' latest grand undertaking album volume series Archives, there is a full embrace of this harmony - figuratively and literally. Not only is it a study in adoption of all past musical influences, but the source sounds and textures themselves are taken straight from their own catalog. Quite literally, new Abstract Aprils songs are birthed from sampling past Abstract Aprils songs. But at the risk of, on surface level, appearing to take an easy way out, or an avoidance of the challenge of using altogether brand new sounds, there is, in fact, a potentially even greater challenge undertaken - the question of how to make something completely fresh and unique out of something old. The result is Archives, a cutting-edge ambient soundscapes series with multiple album volumes, birthed through sampling experiments, granular synthesis, extreme audible pitch processing - sometimes slowing audio down to irrational proportions from the original - and expansive analog and digital processing methods. With song titles and influences taken beyond the musical realm, and into the realm of history, Abstract Aprils is taking the influence, nostalgia, and magic of already-living sounds, to the present, embracing the harmony of old and new.