Lia Bosch
Polar Code
Glacial Movements
The ice floe of ambient chill music takes another victim. Ambient diva Lia Bosch sent me her latest album, Polar Code, packed in a carton of dry ice marked “keep refrigerated.” I pulled out my winter gloves (yes, I still keep them as a souvenir), and soon I was relaxing in a hypercalm near trance. The warmth of imminent freezing permeated my body, and I was soon on another audio journey that brought calm and stillness to my mind, yet left enough motoring in my hands to type about it.
I’ve had my fair share of chill discs, and this one is a bit different — the sound bolder, the notes more menacing, and the ice effects much scarier. No lyrics get in our way, but these 12 tracks pull us along with the sound of ice tearing itself apart. The roar does have an intentional presence, as it is searching for sustenance in the icy pre-warming meltdown. There are higher highs and lower lows in the tracks, and each track offers an opening menu, a mega-sound explosion in the middle, and finally a fading presence that says I may be melting right now, but I know where you live, just like in a “prepare for…” movie.
And unlike other galactic movement material, there is a stronger sense of human intervention and loss in the found noises of the winter settling into centuries of older winters.
If you’re an ambient music fan, this may well be a new branch of the ice floe. And just as huge polar bears are sniffing at you for lunch, this music steps up and says: did you REALLY read the aftertaste receiver? The next hour will be live. Fill out the last will and testament, please. The cold starts now. Have fun, if you can.
