Today's blog post is a spotlight on artists who are members of Inner Echo, who haven't released music on Whitelabrecs. Our community is full of creatives and there are plenty of those who make their own Ambient music - so I thought it would be a nice idea to gather a few of these together into a blog post to hopefully help connect a few new ears to their work.

At the turn of the year we introduced Inner Echo, which is an online community space for friends and followers of Whitelabrecs and Driftworks. It’s a forum where listeners, artists and creatives can come together, share ideas and discoveries, and connect in ways that go beyond our usual newsletters or social media posts. Members can take part in discussions, earn points for their contributions, and enjoy exclusive news, behind-the-scenes content and occasional prizes. More than anything, Inner Echo is about building a sense of connection around the music we love. We even do some community challenges such as raising money for the Alzheimer's Society in May and more recently, Audiovisability who support deaf people; you can check out the compilation album HERE.

Today I want to shine a light on four exceptional artists from the Inner Echo family who haven’t yet appeared on the Whitelabrecs roster: Tenor Jay, Mist Signals, The Medic and Abstract. I’ll introduce each of them below including a little of their backstory and a look at a standout track or release.

Tenor Jay

A recently joining member of Inner Echo is Janet Vail, who is one half of the duo Tenor Jay, alongside husband Roy. Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Roy Parvin is best known as an award-winning short story writer, with work supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Alongside his literary career, has always been a quiet companion. During a difficult year marked by surgeries, Roy found himself unable to write, but discovered that music gave him a means to escape. He recorded many sounds during this time and when he finally shared the recordings with Janet, she joined the project and shaped the arrangements further, adding guitar parts and weaving in field recordings from the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. They eventually arrived at an amazing album called [sound/field] which is available on beautifully designed colour vinyl.

During the recording process the album suffered a setback when Hurricane Helene struck Asheville, cutting off power and water for months. Yet when the pair returned to the material, the songs still radiated a muted optimism. The album is dedicated to healing, with all proceeds going directly to BeLoved Asheville, supporting recovery efforts and the brighter days ahead.

Mist Signals

Manchester based Phil Considine has been an Inner Echo member since the beginning and a regular, active contributor, supporting others and sharing his own creations and artistic journey from time to time. He produces Ambient and Electronic music as Mist Signals and also creates his own artworks. In January, the same month that he joined Inner Echo, he self-released his first album since 2022. Transformations is a collection of 11 Ambient expressions, with finely woven electronic details hinting at a liquefied form of Techno. The concept is clear and simple, as Phil states on the Bandcamp release page: "Transformation is constant, and stability is an illusion. From moment to moment, the entire universe is reshaped, atom by atom, and you are not the same person you were when you started reading this sentence." What's more, this album is a 'pay what you like' meaning you can grab it for free, or indeed share a little if you wish to support this project. What's more, Phil kindly sent me the photo for this week's header image, which he captured on the school run the previous week. Thanks Phil!

The Medic

the medic has been a member of the Inner Echo since the beginning and is a familiar online presence across many an Ambient sub-community, regularly joining Bandcamp listening parties offering words of encouragement to the labels and artists she listens to. Like Tenor Jay, she is also based in North Carolina and is an artist, recording as our dear friend the medic or in the case of my selection here, violetta oliveros. This album 'to turn and remove the key' was released in August on Avos Records and it features Ambient piano alongside electronic strings, woodwinds and brass and the sound is reminiscent in many ways of Budd and Eno's early work together. The cover artwork was shot by the artist too with cinestill 400d.

Abstract Audio Systems

I've known Ben Hudgins for many years - I believe he was one of my early Facebook friends when I was just getting into Ambient music and shortly after, set up the Audio Gourmet netlabel. Ben has been soldiering on with Ambient and Electronic music for decades, with his work as a DJ, his label Machine Tribe Recordings and his own productions as Abstract Audio Systems. With the latter, earlier this year he released an album called 'Sweetness And Light, For A Time' and went all out; it's available on tape, CD and vinyl! The album got featured in Bandcamp's New and Notable editorial space and is full of quality Ambient sounds, from field recordings and piano, strings and chimes to synth and Dark Ambient drones. Inside the Inner Echo, Ben is a regular contributor with his 'Morning Mellow' musical recommendations in the Discovery Room and awesome deep sea dive videos he captures with his wife as the Abstract Dive Log.

If you'd like to join our community, simply sign-up to the Whitelabrecs email newsletter using the form below. If you're already subscribed to one of these newsletters and have not yet joined Inner Echo, send me a message and I'll share the login link with you.