RL/VL - Chagrin

Hi,

I recently got signed to the Australian label Hidden Shoal Recordings and today they announced my signing and an album that i've made for them.

From the Hidden Shoal website:

  Quote

Hidden Shoal Recordings is proud to announce the signing of Belfast-based electronic composer Jack Hamill aka RL/VL to it’s roster of artists.

 

Presenting an impeccably crafted minimalism and focus married to an ineffable sense of human frailty, the music of RL/VL unfolds like the stories of ageless artefacts buried in the earth, still covered in the dirt that was once their home, brimming with micro-histories and rootless memories. The beauty of RL/VL is that no sound is too small, no detail too elusive.

 

Hidden Shoal Recordings will release RL/VL’s mesmerising full length Chagrin on October 30th 2008. The album extends a long line of critically acclaimed ambient and instrumental releases available through Hidden Shoal Recordings including classic works by Slow Dancing Society, Wes Willenbring and Cheekbone to name a few.

More information can be found on the Hidden Shoal website:

http://music.hiddenshoal.com/

I've just uploaded the track Kweens to my MySpace as a preview for the album.

www.myspace.com/rl247

Hidden Shoal is releasing the track as a free download single on October 1st.

congratulations, kweens is actually rather exquisite

Thanks :)

The rest of the album will be more of the same.

like the title and artwork. haven't sneaked the sound yet.

Have a wee listen sure! :smiling:

Hello, friend.

Check the track Kweens on my MySpace for a preview of what to expect on the album.

My artwork for the cd, not finalised yet though.

Here is the art for the free single download thats released in the first week of October.

Kweens has now been released as a free digital download.

  Quote

Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of the single ‘Kweens’ by Belfast-based electronic composer RL/VL.

 

‘Kweens’ is the first single to be taken from the forthcoming album Chagrin. Cloaked in tape hiss, the heartbreaking organ figure at the core of the song has enough emotional weight to floor even the most cynical listener. As ‘Kweens’ unfolds, glistening synths circle around the organ, until the melody dissolves in a shimmering outro akin to prime Boards Of Canada. This is ambient electronica of staggering emotive power.

 

Hidden Shoal Recordings will release RL/VL’s mesmerising full length Chagrin on October 30th 2008. Until the release of the album, ‘Kweens’ will be available for free download from the HSR Store. Chagrin extends a long line of critically acclaimed ambient and instrumental releases available through Hidden Shoal Recordings, including classic works by Slow Dancing Society, Wes Willenbring and Cheekbone.

http://music.hiddenshoal.com/archive/rlvl-...load-available/

Thwack!

I had a dream where I got signed to the Australian label Hidden Shoal Recordings and my hands turned into bumblebees and sprayed piss everywhere.

Jesus!

This is released next Thursday.

This is officially released tomorrow but it is available now:

http://agora.hiddenshoal.com/index.php?mai...;products_id=85

Full length previews and such.

Here is a review of this by Luna Kafe:

http://www.lunakafe.com/moon149/en149b.php

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18-year-old Jack Hamill is RL/VL. RL/VL is an acronym for Real Life/Virtual Life. RL/VL makes extremely sparse and minimalist instrumental music. It's like a mild breeze disappearing almost before you noticed it's been around you.

 

Last issue I checked out the album's single, Kweens, which was a nice foretaste for this album. Chagrin's a collection of 13 slow pieces. In a way it's all too much, I think, with over 70 minutes of music. It's a massive collage even though it's very low and whispering throughout, and rather comforting, putting you in a tranquil state of mind. Yet, I find it to be a too big bag of sound. That said, you could/should of course 'inhale' the album in smaller portions. Well, of course the songs are growing on me. I guess they need some time to shape. The compositions are like paintings. Oil on canvas. They sure need some of your time.

 

So, what about the tracks then. "Kweens" is already mentioned. I also enjoy "Dinosaurs", and the closing "Complaining Til the Bitter End". To name a few. There are many fine moments of course. Finally, I must say I do get impressed by 18-year-olds being creative like this. Hamill, hailing from outside Belfast, began exposing his compositions some 2 years ago and he sounds like a full-blown, full-grown electronic composer. He has previously put out the EPs Gigi's Catch of the Day (Sounds Asleep Recordings) and Tardypoints (Acroplane). Come swim the ambience of Chagrin.

Well, here is a nice review from BlogCritics:

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/12/08/083800.php

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...Do you remember those magic eye 3D images that had people squinting at them at the recommended six inches distance whilst on crowded trains? After a period of going cross eyed a sudden ‘Eureka’ moment would arrive. Listening to Chagrin is a similar, musical, experience… quite often it is best to lie back, in a dark room, and allow your own experience to take you… it is rich with colour, rather like swimming in watercolours, and it has a myriad of doors, and mirrors to choose from. There is something triumphantly ageless about the landscape it conjures up. We, the listener, are invited to float above it, looking down as we travel across the scenery. Chagrin is a musical out of body experience. It is music for the mind. It is meditation...