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Behind the Music: 'Vanaprastha' by Alex Smalley

7/31/2021

 
alex smalley olan mill pausal lp vinyl pitp past inside the present drone ambient label
Inspiration and thoughts behind the making of Vanaprastha
New Life
Vanaprastha was inspired by so many different events, changes and progressions it's hard to pin down anything specific - though I guess relocating from the UK to Germany was pretty huge and then starting a family. I would also say that learning more about plant medicine, Veganism, meditation and yoga on the Island of Koh Phangan in Thailand was really progressive for my creative process. Then teaching in a Waldorf school, gardening and engaging with Optimistic visions of the future via people like Ben Gorzell and Daniel Schmachtenberger has been humbling. But mainly I see creative energies flowing from my family, mindful engagement with nature and the books of Peppa Pig.


Retiring to the Forest
The title Vanaprastha literally means "retiring to the forest" and is the third stage in the Varnashrama system of Hinduism. It represents the third of the four ashramas of human life, the other three being Brahmacharya, Grihastha and Sannyasa. This is my first solo album, the music serves as a release from an old way of life where for many years I was lost and found in the woods of rural Hampshire, England.


Lockdown 2020
Whilst making this album I was also creating a record with my wife. Our music as Ampersand is a collage of experimental pop catharsis that incorporates chaotic and often physical percussive elements that wash against colourful melodic textures. It is quite overstimulating and dramatic - so recording Vanaprastha was a kind of antidote to that process. The music on Vanaprastha is deeply layered and mediative. The mix I have made here is kind of the opposite. I curated it around the beginning of lockdown 2020 (whilst working on Vanaprastha). In the evenings after putting my daughter to bed I'd walk in the fields behind our house listening to these songs and remembering a time when life was so free I would seek danger to make it more exciting. This is my soundtrack to changing forms of freedom and gratitude to the luxuries we enjoy everyday.

Influences
A mix by Alex Smalley
'Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence'

--
Featuring
MJ Guider - Lit Negative
Call Super - Puppet Scene
Greg Fox - Preponderance
Skee Mask - Calimance (Delay Mix)
FORMA - Descent
Jon Hopkins - Form By Firelight
Blanck Mass - Lung
Flying Lotus - GNG BNG
Holly Herndon - DAO
Raime - This Foundry
Oliver Coats - Bambi 2046
Rayographs - My Critical Mind (The Haxan Cloak remix)
Colin Stetson + Sarah Neufeld - With The Dark Hug Of Time

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Past Inside The Present is pleased to welcome Pausal to the PITP roster!

6/18/2019

 
pausal olan mill lp cassette cd alex smalley Simon Bainton past inside the present PITP ambient label drone album
Past Inside The Present is pleased to welcome Pausal to the PITP roster! Expect a more detailed release announcement in the near future.

Pausal is the audio and visual art project of Alex Smalley and Simon Bainton, both from Hampshire, UK. Active since 2005, they have released their music on labels such as Barge Recordings, Students of Decay, Own Records, Dronarivm and Infraction.  Individually, Alex has released several works under his Olan Mill guise and Simon has released on Hibernate Records.

The duo's music has been described as "billowing, vaporous, and cloud-like", "a shimmering haze of humid ambience and sparkling field recordings", "a colourful, yet ghostly, world of slow-moving, rejuvenating sound". Their live shows are a complete immersive experience, utilizing large scale visuals created by the band. They have performed across the UK and in Europe supporting artists such as Grouper, Mountains, Stars of the Lid, Chihei Hatakeyama and Greg Haines.
pausal olan mill lp cassette cd alex smalley Simon Bainton past inside the present PITP ambient label drone album

Olan Mill – Sounds of a New Father

11/16/2018

 
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Olan Mill
Sounds of a New Father | CD/Cassette/Digital
Release date: 11.16.2018

After the recent album on Unknown Tone Records, Olan Mill returns to Shimmering Moods Records. There is no doubt that the birth of a child is the most incredible, wonderous, and, frankly, miraculous event to be a part of. It’s the climax of the most complex and awe-inspiring biological processes, the most radical change the human body can go through and the most utterly emotionally over-whelming event possible. No wonder everyone involved is knocked for six.

But no amount of parenting classes, no wise words from friends or parents – absolutely nothing – can prepare you for what happens next: the quiet rise of a totally new sensation, one that will, from now until forever, completely define your existence. It’s not the sudden responsibility for the every need of a defenceless and thoroughly dependent tiny human, a human that is a mix of the DNA of you and your partner, a human that you created. It’s not that, as incredible as that notion is. It is, quite simply, a new type of Love.

A love as you have never known it before. A love that will rule your life. That will never die. That will be behind the most dramatic ups and devastating downs of your life. A parent’s love for their child.

And yet, biology also does everything it can to test this new love. Babies are a challenging thing: the nappies, the constant demands for attention, food, winding. The crying. But the biggest challenge of them all is sleep. Or, more specifically, your sleep and the lack of it. Since the only time you can sleep is when your baby is asleep, getting baby to sleep takes on a frightening level of importance.

But once you finally get a routine established (routines are everything in child care), and you lay baby down for a much-needed rest (yours), the love that guides forever takes hold. Full of a serene joy, you feel you could just watch them breathing, forever. Time stands still. All your aches and pains recede. Love makes everything good.

Olan Mill’s new album is a paean to the whole baby-sleep thing. The overarching tone of the album is one of relaxation: horizontal, but not straightforward. As well as a welcoming of slumber, in here you will also find a yearning for sleep; yes, a yearning for his child to get some sleep but also a personal longing for sleep, for happy rest, not as an escape from the world but as what sleep should be, a moment of truly happy relaxation, a chance to recharge.

At moments there are, just faintly, traces of the desperation that sets in when baby just won’t sleep, won’t stop crying. You know that to show your frustration would be counterproductive, make things worse, so you hide it as best you can. But when sleep deprivation takes hold, the cracks show. There is a high degree of restraint and a better level of parenting on display here than I could ever manage, but even so, if you listen, on occasion the desperation for sleep is there.

But what can’t be hidden, what is clear to all, is the love, the love that sustains and rewards. The love that can bring such joy from the simple act of just watching your sleeping child. Quiet, serene, honest, and beautiful.

Words by Andrew, Cameron & Bambi Sherwell

A note from the artist:
“The music was recorded in the moments after baby Alma had gone to sleep. All tracks were recorded using electric guitar and effect pedals. There was no post production or revisions to the original recordings. I was very tired while thumbing out these drones.....” Alex Smalley aka Olan Mill.

Music written and mastered by Alex Smalley
Original paintings by Alma Kemya Smalley
50 limited edition C43 cream cassettes supplied in printed o-cards, pro dubbed by Bandcds UK + 70 limited edition handmade CD packages, photo's, hand numbered CDr, wallets in envelopes. Different colors and sizes.
Purchase >

Olan Mill “Curves” - PITP'S Top 25 List of Ambient Releases in 2018

11/8/2018

 
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OLAN MILL - CURVES
We are pleased to announce that Olan Mill’s “Curves” made it on PITP’s Top 25 List of ambient releases in 2018.

Alex Smalley is the mastermind of Olan Mill. Curves is built upon field recordings from his home and various work environments. Layers of processed guitar, synthesisers and voice were added to create a time-capsule of locations and experiences. A wonderful addition to his extensive collection of releases.

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Past Inside the Present - Ambient Music Label and Blog 2019
© MMXVIII - MMXXIII
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