“Fine Art trained” guitarist Mark Ward lives in Sheffield, UK, and his ambient electronica connects listeners to the serenity that inhabits every pastoral dream of the English countryside. He layers guitar with keyboards, field recordings and percussive loops, then filters with a gentle hand through software. His wonderful EP, One Moon Appears Everywhere, moves us through landscapes and textures, coming in and out of the foreground while mingling with and enhancing any thoughts that pop into our heads. The track Contentment is 12 minutes of hypnogogic tranquility, floating on a drone made from a rusting piano frame in an overgrown English meadow. No separation, indeed.
From the liner notes:
…the moon has never not been there, the light has never disappeared – light and dark are as one, death and life have no separation.
His latest official single, E Minor Blues, expands on aspects of his earlier output. The deceptively simple timing manipulation of 3 chords leads listeners through a fascinating series of caresses and disruptions, almost as if the chords are sentient and on journeys of self-discovery. That description might be a bit too new-agey for you hardened cupcakes, but deal with it. Give in to it. Let it all go…
Mark Ward
mark-ward.org
twitter
soundcloud
bandcamp
mixcloud
instagram