EN

Another sublime drone album from the unshakably good Root Strata camp, En's The Absent Coast is a real upper tier ambient release. Distinguished by its depth and effortless musicality, this album is one for genre fans to really savour. After the sandblasting noise/tonal onslaught of 'A Dying Sun/Return To Holyoke', the album calibrates itself to a stately simmer that comes to life during the quite sublime 'Honeysuckle Heart', which combines glassy sustains with crackling, overdriven harp-like string plucks to exquisite effect. Elsewhere, 'Miramar' conjures a horizontal bowed soundscape that's somehow more visceral and emotive than the sum of its parts and the ionosphere-scraping 'Pratyaya' paradoxically combines Tim Hecker-style fiery arcs with the kind of effortless, droning sedation that Stars Of The Lid specialise in. Excellent.