The liner notes accompanying Gus Til’s ambient work out ‘Electronic Oceans’ are more a stream of consciousness journey across far flung oceans than any kind of conventional description of the music contained therein. It seems entirely appropriate however for an album that weaves so many elements into its ever shifting canvas. It is at once uniform – like the sea – yet filled with a myriad different sound elements, both synthesized and acoustic.

The term ‘ambient music’ is said to have been first coined by Brian Eno back in the late seventies to describe music that would ‘envelop the listener without drawing attention to itself’. Perhaps music aimed at the subconscious. There are all kinds of subgenres, but the two most recognisable are the New Age variety (which you invariably hear if you’re having a massage and are given names like ‘Tibetan Ice Floe’) and electronica. Artists like Aphex Twin, The Orb, KLF (with their genre defying ‘Chill Out’) Irresistible Force and Future Sound of London have popularised the electronic approach. But it was the early pioneers of ambient that really pushed boundaries.

Electronic Oceans is not of the Steven Halpern New Age school of ambient. This is not to say it is devoid of ‘ethnic’ elements – there’s plenty of traditional percussion, a resonating didgeridoo and chants and freeform vocals. But Gus’ keyboard skills and a clear penchant for jazz (there are elements of Chick Korea, Stanley Clarke and Herbie Hancock in Headhunters mode here) and the broader elements of progressive rock take you a lot further.
Add to this buckets of synth-wash and warm orchestral chords, together with sampled sounds like a jet plane taking off (harking back to the recurring steam train in KLF’s seminal Chill Out) and you’ll find yourself adrift on an aural current which might take you anywhere…JD