Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri: Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close (digital, Black Knoll Editions, April 2024)

I am a big fan of both Rafael Anton Irisarri and Abul Mogard (even if the retired Serbian factory worker story has now, I think, been thoroughly debunked) and so I was obviously excited to hear this. And what a joy it is. There are two lengthy tracks of wonderfully soul-nourishing melodic ambient fuzzy hugs. The second track, Waking Up Dizzy On A Bastion, is one of the most uplifting things I’ve heard in a long time. This is a live performance (about the only quibble I have with it is that the applause at the end is a little jarring, especially if you’re not expecting it, puncturing the serenity of the moment) and you can kind of hear the two elements of the duet — the soaring synths and the staticky ambient — weaving in and out of each other and I find the sense of presence this creates pretty magical.

(Be careful if you listen to it on streaming: on YouTube Music, at least, there are two shorter ‘AM radio’ edits stuck on the end, which makes for an odd listening experience, so I try to remember to kick them off the queue.)

I bought this from Boomkat. They call it Modern Classical / Ambient and Electronic.