Willebrant – "Coastal___"

The new EP by Willebrant is one thing above all: wonderfully dreamy. The Australian's music invites you to drift off into the wide and just be in the now.

I recently got to know Karl Willebrant through Perry Frank. As an admirer of his music, he had come across my site. Quite incidentally, I then found out about his new EP, for which I am pretty grateful – the record is a wonderful piece of ambient music.

"Coastal_" is the second installation of a fieldwork series ("Fern__" was part one). With his sound baths, Karl wants to invite his listeners to lose themselves. To become absorbed in the sound scenery and create a world of reflections and fantasy.

Synthesizers, droning basses and ocean noise

I think Karl did a pretty perfect job with that. With his skilful mix of kalimba, piccolo basslines, slides, ebows, cleverly added droning basses and synthesizer layers, he sends me on a journey into his world. His beautiful field recordings from the Australian coast are making the EP perfect.

The four songs in total are very well-rounded. If you think of meditation when it comes to ambient, you've are right here. Take some time off to listen to this EP. Put on your headphones, lie down comfortably and let the sounds take you away.

The opener "Heath" begins with the sound of the ocean. Crickets are starting to chirp, and I find myself in another time zone. Karl doesn't renounce post-rock borrowings at all. Darker spheres sprout up every once and a while. But they are soon washed away by the wonderfully light and carefree feeling of his recordings – Until the next wave arrives.

A journey of thoughts

"Gathering" makes me travel straight to a vivid lido. A light breeze is making the wind chimes dance on the thatched roofs of the beach cafés. Someone is selling ice cream. The sun warms the skin.

The third song, "Solos", tells the story of a hike on the high cliffs aside the ocean. A storm comes up and carries my thoughts away. High up into the clouds, where there are no more rain and no more worries.

At least since listening to the last song on the record named "Change", I ask myself why I became aware of Willebrant so late. In the future, I will certainly continue to listen to Karl's music. I want to recommend it to you as well. The grand finale brings me to a warm campfire after a long, happy day full of surfing, sun and exciting adventures. A thunderstorm pelts the tin roof. Drops trickle through the cracks in the awning and form little rivulets on the sandy ground. Until at some point it all converges into one big river that flows back into the sea.

"With this music, I want to imply a sense of journey, calm and delight of days spent roaming around the coast",

Karl told me. That's precisely where I'm dreaming myself away to now for a while. I'll leave you back here with this beautiful music. I hope you'll enjoy Willebrant as much as I do.