Written by Marilù Ciabattoni
Discovered via Musosoup
An instrumental album, Ruud Voesten’s Ambrosia draws heavily on the influence that jazz and blues had on his music. The whole album is rather dark but its within this obscure sound that we find beauty.
Mysterious and sneaky, “Within a Forest Dark” opens the album with a delicate, almost uncertain piano line and soft percussions in the background. The wind instruments seem to talk to tell us a story. The percussions and the piano seem to be in competition against each other: which one will prevail over the other? We can only tell by listening to the album in its entirety.
The music in “Enter Our Hero” describes exactly what the title says: the entrée en scène of the hero of the story. Here the trumpet is bold and playful, and definitely lighter than in the opening track.
“This Is Fine” sounds tired and slow, which makes us believe that something isn’t really fine, although the rhythm picks up again towards the end of the song. After the virtuosic and elegant “Goesting,” we have the dynamic “Empty” which features a confused melodic line (I says confused because it seems to be all over the place and chaotic).
“The Crypto Shuffle” sounds like the perfect soundtrack for a casino where people gamble. “Recreational Outrage” features a dynamic piano line which goes up and down trying to tell us something (although we’re never quite sure of what it’s trying to tell us).
“Heresy,” a title that confirms the medieval roots of the album when it comes to its setting, sounds darker than the previous tracks although keeping this dynamism of melodic lines.
“Wood of Thorns,” a title that might have as well been taken out of Games of Thrones, is an anxiety-inducing track as I’m never really sure of where it is going exactly, melodically and conceptually.
“Clickbait Merchants” combines two very different terms: a contemporary one (clickbait) and an older one (merchants) maybe in an attempt to make the album appeal to younger folks who are not very familiar with jazz and similar genres.
“Brutus Semper Est” definitely shows the classical roots of the album, as the song feels like it’s being played in the lounge of an expensive five-star hotel. “Antifragile” closes the album very quietly and softly, leaving us the time to meditate on the musical odyssey we’ve just witnessed.
With Ambrosia, we’re experiencing a comeback of jazz and blues like never before thanks to Ruud Voesten’s mastery of sounds, melodies and harmonies.
Discovered via https://app.musosoup.com #sustainablecurator