Andrew Chalk - Dioramas

What is surely the album cover of the year fronts another typically magical record from the great Andrew Chalk, who returns to An'Archives following the Jean Noel Rebilly collab in 2023. Chalk has released so much music, you'd think that some of the awe might have diminished by this point, but their remains a persistent ineffable appeal to his particular style of ambient portraiture that continually seems to border on transcendent. If there's a point of difference to Dioramas, it's that Chalk is now choosing to work in short form again, 15 cathedralesque drones cast in miniature that on only two occasions pass the three minute mark. It's a shift that favours the detailed-orientated approach, a chance to explore multiple minor sonic flourishes, subtle detours and gentle evolutions that nonetheless feel distinctively Chalk. It's funny to think of his early forays into noise when faced with a collection of music so graceful and poised. Still, it's that same background in noise that also elevates everything Chalk does beyond the mass of Ambient Lifestyle producers out there clogging up coffeehouse chill out playlists - there's a little somthing unknown hidden in the background, a mysterious trouble lurking you can't quite fathom, an extra in the midst. Dioramas is undoubtedly both pretty and classy, but it's true value is a good degree more complex.