- A gorgeous ambient record that conveys both the power and peace of the natural world.
- Woodstock-based producer and percussionist Photay released An Offering, his latest album with LA producer Carlos Niño, as a wet spell stretched across New York City. Much like the mid-October weather that sprayed Brooklyn streets with a melange of organic and inorganic matter, An Offering converts field recordings of natural life into meditative electronica, obfuscating the border between nature and artificiality. The drowsy patter of an afternoon drizzle, the creak of a hardwood floor, a bird's squawk—these are just some of the sounds that enrich the album, as well as camouflage it into the shared experience of our private worlds. The record's pastoral caverns mirror the subdued ambiance of a restless mind suddenly in repose.
Photay, whose given name is Evan Shornstein, is one example of an artist whose environment is directly reflected in their production. Raised in the quiet greenery of Woodstock, New York, in recent years Shornsteim has split his time between New York City and his old Upstate stomping grounds. He balanced his love for club music and for pleasant electronica in the bright melodies and polyrhythms across Onism, his 2017 LP inspired by the philosophy of John Koenig. When the pandemic started, Shornstein seemed to gain a greater appreciation for the more sedate end of his production. Records like On Hold, released in March 2021, capture the greyscale inertia of a year spent tucked away in lockdown.
An Offering showcases a more universal stillness, evoking the simultaneous robust life force and serenity of nature. On "C H A N G E," a stream gurgles, sprite-like vocals exhale a bright, triumphant tune and layers of harp notes, courtesy of New York harpist Mikaela Davis, tickle the brain like hi-fi ASMR. On "E X I S T," the airy soundscape Shornstein builds shapeshifts and glitches. A close listen might reveal the sounds of nature, represented by purposeful horns, migrating slowly underneath electronic whirs.
On other parts of the album, it's more challenging to distinguish what has been directly mined from nature and what's been electronically conceived to imitate it. In "P U P I L", which features Randal Fisher's delightfully idling tenor saxophone, do the track's electronic whirs emulate the sound of chattering birds, or are those chirps digitally disguised as little bleeps? Songs like these inspire the feeling of hiking through the Catskill mountains after a long stretch of time going through the motions in a bustling city, zooming into all the minuscule creatures and background foliage that form a breathtaking larger experience.
It's difficult to not feel an overwhelming sense of smallness while listening to An Offering. There are sections like "O R B I T," a song which conveys the lonely vastness of the universe with forlorn drones that sound like they're swirling around like a tornado dangerously close to engulfing an awestruck storm chaser. More magic arises in the multiple-part story of "M O S A I C," where in one exquisite moment, horns stretch out into the distance only to be consumed, like a hawk plucking a squirrel from a tree, by the trill of a harp.
It's fitting that New Age legend lasos would close out this introspective record by imparting some metaphysical wisdom: "If you exist now, you've always existed and you always will exist." It's a sentence which, for listeners who rarely think too deeply about their existence (like this writer), might make their chest warm. While extracting the most placid elements of our natural world into inspiring compositions, An Offering amplifies the infinite beauty of the world surrounding us, inviting listeners to pay closer attention to the seemingly inconsiderable details that make the Earth miraculous.
Tracklist01. P R E L U D E
02. C U R R E N T
03. C H A N G E
04. E X I S T
05. P U P I L
06. M O S A I C
07. H O N O R
08. O R B I T
09. E X I S T E N C E feat. Iasos