Nick Schofield – 7th Level Music

Review: Nick Schofield – Ambient Ensemble

If you’re Nick Schofield, how do you follow up your beautiful ambient album Glass Gallery? Do you create something similar and explore more themes of mediation and presence?

The answer is “Yes,” but you decide not to do it alone this time. On Ambient Emsemble, you get other musicians to join you. You bring in clarinets, violins, vocals, piano, and other folks who click with you right away to create another lovely record that can transport you out of whatever malaise you might be feeling (in my case, at the time of writing this, dealing with COVID).

“Meadow” is a bit of an introduction to the record, almost like a warm breeze coming over a hill. “On Air” makes you feel like you’re floating on it. The clarinet work makes you feel like a bird coasting on air currents. “Hazen” is chilled synthwave with a bit of a dramatic flair.

“Fine Tune” and “Joy Cry” are a bit hypnotizing. You tend to lose a sense of time and space when giving them a deep listen. “Bouquet” puts the orchestral elements at the front and lets them shine. “Mourning Doves” and “Resonant World” are a nice duo, as they almost float together instead of being two separate pieces. The strings on “Heartfelt” are like fog rolling over a mountain lake.

“Picture Perfect” was the lead single from Ambient Emsemble, and it was a good choice. It’s a bit upbeat and a great way to start a morning yoga routine or even just a cup of tea. The plucky strings and flirty flute on “Undertone” are delightful. “Key Bed” closes the album with soft keys and synths, almost like a lullaby.

Scholfield’s knack for transporting you to lovely places within and without is impressive, and this album is another good example of his talents.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]

Nick Schofield returns with a “Picture Perfect” single.

Distant piano, vintage synths and faded orchestral arrangements resounding in spacious natural reverb. Nick Schofield’s Ambient Ensemble sees the Canadian composer and synth maven expanding his solo practice with an ensemble, adding his signature ambient essence to contemporary-classical and electronic music.

Where his previous two albums (Water Sine, Glass Gallery) were entirely solo endeavours and synth-focused, Ambient Ensemble invites gregarious group play. The compositions feature a chamber ensemble of grounding double bass and sliding fretless flourishes, warm violin and soothing vocals, with convivial accents of clarinet. Compelled by natural elements and intuitive composition, Ambient Ensemble is a refreshing assembly of acoustic works by Nick Schofield.

In January 2020, the album began with patient piano improvisations recorded in a church during deep Canadian winter nights. The sparse piano sketches were then slowed to half-speed and layered with classic Moog and Juno-6 synthesizers. After the project received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts in 2023, the ensemble was formed with luminaries of the Gatineau/Ottawa music scene, featuring Yolande Laroche (voice, clarinet), Mika Posen (violin) and Philippe Charbonneau (fretless electric bass, double bass).

Citing the blissful spaciousness of pioneering new age flutist Joanna Brouk as a central inspiration, Ambient Ensemble lands delicately within the contemporary cannon alongside artists like M. Sage, Blue Lake, Ana Roxanne, and Joseph Shabason.

Regarding his newest single, “Picture Perfect,” Schofield says: “Picture Perfect is my most upbeat ambient song. It features pulsing piano, sparkling synths and swelling string arrangements – all recorded in a church with naturally resounding reverb.

The song is about envisioning perfection, while also recognizing the perfection of the present moment.

This piece shows the trajectory of my music, from working solo with synthesizers to incorporating acoustic instruments with an ensemble.

I wanted to work with acoustic instruments and an ensemble of musicians after hosting a concert series at Resonance Cafe in Montreal (which is sadly now closed) from 2018-2020 called Ambient Ensemble where I invited small ensembles of local musicians to improvise over my ambient music. It was beautiful and playful, full of serene surprises. The series featured so many amazing musicians – I was joined by label-mates Pietro Amato, Michael Feuerstack and Sarah Pagé, as well as Thanya Iyer, Austin Tufts, Eve Parker Finley, Sean Michaels, Alexei Perry Cox, Desert Bloom, Adam Kinner, Sarah Feldman, Justin Wright and many more. This new album is my way to produce the ‘Ambient Ensemble’ concert series on record. I am in love with how the album turned out because it is equally playful, serene and full of surprises that I would have never come up with on my own – just like the concert series.“

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]

Review: Nick Schofield – Glass Gallery

There are many albums that convey a sense of place. Sometimes the place is an entire town or nation, other times it’s a small bedroom. Nick Schofield‘s excellent new ambient music album, Glass Gallery, conveys the energy of part of Ottawa’s National Gallery of Canada. The gallery is full of high ceilings and massive windows, creating a space full of light, air, and meditative quiet.

“Central Atrium” immediately puts you into the right headspace for the record with its warm synths and simple, relaxing chords. Listening to “Mirror Image” is like listening to a prism with light shining through it. I’m not sure I can describe it better than that. “Getty Garden” blips and bleeps like a happy robotic cat. “Water Court” seemingly drifts along without effort, and “Molinarism” sounds like the theme to a Blade Runner spin-off TV show.

“Travertine Museum” and “Snow Blue Square” are luxurious meditations. “Ambient Architect” is a good way to describe Schofield himself, as the song weaves intricate yet relaxing patterns of synth chords over and through each other. “Garden Court is a nice compliment to “Water Court.” “Kissing Wall” is as intriguing as its namesake and a perfect song for androids who want to make out, with humans or other synthetic beings. The album ends with the subtle, but no less hypnotizing, “Key of Klee.”

What makes this album even more impressive is when you consider it was made with just one synthesizer – a Sequential Circuits Prophet-600. I couldn’t make this with ten synthesizers if he, Gary Numan, and Giorgio Moroder were coaching me. It’s a lovely piece of work.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]