- Inspired by Cape Town's Gonubie River, the South African artist presents a masterclass in gently rhythmic ambient music.
- Imagine strolling along Cape Town's Gonubie river on a calm evening—waves drifting towards the shore, gently colliding with each other and producing soft, lazy ripples. Gonubie took the name of her newest project from the river, and the music echoes the unhurried flow of its namesake, contrasting her usual club-focused sounds under the name raresoftware. Signals At Both Ears, released by Métron sub-label small méasures, is Gonubie's debut LP, exploring an ambient style defined by elegant drums, melodic chimes and gently looping synths. With an interdisciplinary background covering classical music, fine art and landscape architecture, Gonubie presents a record that not only soothes the mind but also holds attention through its exquisite simplicity. Each track usually features only a few elements combined masterfully.
Throughout Signals At Both Ears, extended chords are paired with placid percussion, bells and harp-like sounds. These elements intertwine effortlessly with each other, guiding the listening journey like the meandering of a winding river. It's a formula repeated across the album, but each track has a sense of individuality. "Minke" (which is also the name of a tiny species of whale) represents the softest side of the album, with a drone quietly humming in the background while the bells carry the track forward. On "Sei," there's a back-and-forth between deep drums and persistent high-pitched synths that creates a hypnotic pull, like planets orbiting around each other.
Running with this theme of natural movement—and exploring how even the slightest of sounds can fill their surroundings—Gonubie's self-produced artwork for Signals At Both Ears is carefully thought out. The grouping of simple line patterns, some clustered together, some spaced apart, not only mirrors the differences in drum arrangements throughout the album, but also the change of wave motion you'd find in a river throughout the day. The varied lines in Gonubie's artwork are a visual representation of the "signal at both ears"—i.e., the physicality of sound itself. It's those tiny vibrations that travel through our ears and into the auditory system, continuously vibrating through our ear canals and sending electrical signals to our brains, allowing us to hear music. The vibrations meet at both ears and flow through the entire album. Gonubie uses her music to infiltrate spaces that are otherwise empty, especially on "Blue Emperor," where the tightly-packed chime sequences leave no space in the song untouched.
Despite this heightened emphasis on movement and filling up space that contradicts the stillness that ambient music is usually associated with, listening to Gonubie's Signals At Both Ears isn't overwhelming. In fact, it's the opposite. There's a continuous state of flow that maintains a sense of focus but stimulates curiosity, whether it's the synths in "Sei" mimicking wave movements or the echoing vocals in "Crystal Pools" flooding the soundscape like intrusive thoughts. In line with the aquatic theme, there's an overall sense of harmony in Signals At Both Ears. Robert Wyland once said that "the ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul," and Gonubie's debut album does the same with her delicate yet expressive sounds.
Tracklist01. Sei
02. Cuvier's
03. Minke
04. Baiji Returns
05. Crystal Pools
06. Blue Emperor
07. Hyphae
08. Nymph