Russell Burden & Craig Tattersall - Diagenesis

Another great one we missed first time around from Laaps in the form of this 2023 collaboration between Being's Russell Burden and Craig Tattersall of the much loved The Humble Bee. The pair have worked together a few times before and Tattsersall fans will recognise his signature sound in part here, but Diagenesis does represent a slight shift in approach for the duo, forgoing an emphasis on what they define as a 'musicality' in favour of a privileging of the textures and, again in their words, 'materiality' of field recordings. As such, these four tracks, each exactly 11 minutes long (the significance of which I've no idea), land very much in the Decayed Ambient territory associated with the West Mineral and 3XL set, though this is less the sound of technology breaking down as it is nature running its course. Crucially, because Tattersall is involved, there's a sense of rural intimacy throughout, something he's been working out since his days in Hood, exploring that idea of the intersection between the human and the natural world. Water flows, the wind blows, a sunbeam lights a column of dust hanging in the air, otherwise unseen. That's the beauty of Diagenesis right there, capturing something profound and elegant from the parts you might not realised were present. And in essence, the true value of ambient music. Edition of 300.