A captivating collection of analogue improvisations from the early 1990s performed on an old Roland Juno 106.
‘All Becomes Desert’ is the new album by London-based musician/composer Ian Williams. It contains a series of analogue improvisations from the early 1990s performed on an old Roland Juno 106 and recorded straight onto DAT that were recently transferred onto a more modern set-up for processing and mixing. It is an album that uses processed minimalist ambiances and warm soundscapes to evoke the wide-open, empty spaces of the great deserts and their hostility to human interference.
Ian Williams began his music career in the early 1980s as a founder of Beautiful Pea Green Boat, whose ethereal, atmospheric sound pre-dated the vogue for dream-pop by at least two decades. Several collaborations with Lebanese choreographer Joumana Mourad and her contemporary dance company Ijad in the 1990s saw him fuse Arabic, classical, techno and ambient styles. He then changed tack to work with singer Claudia Barton as Gamine, releasing two albums of dark, piano-led torch songs and lullabies.
2019 brought the release of his melancholic yet melodic solo debut album, 'The Dream Extortionists’, with an eclectic electronic soundtrack to the French documentary film ‘Les Blessures Invisibles' (Invisible Wounds) that evoked the likes of Biosphere and Ben Salisbury following in 2020.
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