Words KYLE BOBBY DUNN
Maybe some folks would say On Land (EG, 1982) is a typical ambient choice; maybe some are unfamiliar with this title. I honestly find this to be the greatest ambient album in many ways. I have returned to it again and again over the years and get more out of it all the time. I love the dark themes and desolate Americana feel to it.
I remember first hearing the final track of this album (“Dunwich Beach 1960”) and being nearly brought to tears. It reminded me of a dark side of my childhood; maybe one that is better left unsaid and unrevealed. We are often too quick to reveal our deepest secrets and sorrows and they are so personal and sad that it seems they should be kept to ourselves or kept quiet perhaps.
This album does remind me of the earliest stages of life, though. Those days of confusion and darkness that were felt when I was a child trying to make sense of the world as a new life form on the planet…. I suppose I still feel that nearly every day. One just has to look to the sky each day to observe how infinity looks—how daunting, mysterious, perplexing—and how may never fully understand our time here. This album is a soundtrack for that human confusion but in a far more comforting and nearly relaxing way than myself or any other person could ever make. A truly perfect album in my mind.
Kyle Bobby Dunn just released his masterpiece, the quadruple LP ‘From Here to Eternity’, which is now available exclusively through Bandcamp. Dig into its deep listening exercises below, along with several options for streaming the expansive pieces of ‘On Land’.
