A kingdom of cacophonies
The Straw Man | Aloof October on April's Birthday | 04/30/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I must say that I am a fan of instrumental/ambient music. This is an appreciation I have developed as I have gotten older. I stumbled across this CD, did a little research, the price wasn't bad, and so I bought it. This CD only runs about 27 minutes long and it is very good hidden little gem.
The music has both a warm and aloof vibe encompassing it. The music has a Brian Eno flare and believe it or not there is an instrumental song by U2 called "The Fourth of July" that could fit well on this album.
In general terms, ambient music tends to be very electronic sounding. It relies on synthesizers, keyboards, piano, samples and/or sound effects. This album by Icecake is a bit more organic or holistic towards the ambient being. The main instruments are guitar, both lead and bass, which seems "out of box" for ambient music, at least the type I am familiar with. However, Icecake gives the guitars a very hypnotic flare.
Yet all is not lost, there are some samples, effects and a minimal use of synthesizers that give it the stamp of approval in the dominion of ambient music. There are also some distorted vocals on several tracks, very different.
I found "an ambient experience" to be a great album to relax to or to drift away into a kingdom of cacophonies."