The Glass Pavilion - When the Blazing Sun Is Gone (2022)

The first album released in 2022 on my blog is a debut album by Ashley Owens. The English artist makes music as The Glass Pavilion and he filled his first ever album When the Blazing Sun Is Gone with subtle solo post-rock pieces that often are closer to instrumental ambient than guitar-raging compositions.

Owens was forced to give up on his "bedroom indie" way of playing music so he chose to continue pursuing music career in the electronica post-rock field. He merges synths and electronic sounds with sampled guitars to create moody and slow soundscapes of pure atmosphere. The compositions are long and quiet, delicate noise makes a background for non-invasive guitar sounds while in many places, the soundscapes are made more beautiful with synthy melodies (so great in Open to the Sky). They are very well developed and it's only more amazing knowing that the artist created them "at [his] kitchen table (mostly), with studio equipment consisting of a laptop, a small MIDI keyboard, a smartphone and a pair of headphones".

As the title and cover art suggest, the album has the winter's dark vibes all over. it But the darkness here is not dangerous nor unsettling - quite the opposite, the music feels cozy and making the audience feel at peace. Perhaps that was the tool the artist used to settle after the difficult time in his life. As he states, "it’s not a despairing, ‘share my pain’ album, or at least I hope it’s not. I hope it’s music people might be happy to escape into" - and this plan of escaping works, especially when, in the impressive finish of the album in The Most Glorious Birds, the organ-like synths lead your way.

When the Blazing Sun Is Gone costs 6 EUR (5 GBP).

Check: The Most Glorious Birds

Country: UK

Genre: synth instrumental ambient

Label: Little Lights Recordings

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