Last month I had the pleasure of releasing the Lost Horizons EP by Los Angeles based artist Kevin Paczesny and after chatting through some ideas for a blog post, Kevin raised that he'd like to create an Ambient mix. He had already been thinking about a mix series called Ambient Forms and so sent over Volume 1, an exquisite journey through Ambient soundscapes.

The mix features plenty of well-known names, with Archives label owner Warmth, Past Inside The Present's Zakè and Polar Seas' Brad Deschamps as Anthéne to name just a few. The mix features one or two new names to me personally, an artist I've followed for donkeys years in Vidna Obmana and then some pieces from Kevin's own Lost Horizons EP. You can take a listen to Ambient Forms Volume 1 by hitting the play button below, or visiting the Mixcloud page HERE. If you like what you hear please see the tracklist below and explore the music further on your preferred channels...

TRACKLIST

1. Lauge - Glimpses of Yesterday
2. Infinite Dreamer - Gentle Breeze
3. Warmth - The Darkest Place (Warmth's Scape Version)
4. Synth4ever - The Journey Within
5. Kevin Paczesny - Childhood Beach
6. Sensitize - Shinrin-Yoku
7. Warmth - Reflector
8. Anthéne - Caught in the headlights
9. Kevin Paczesny - Calmness of Cities
10. Kevin Paczesny - Night Wind
11. Zakè and City of Dawn - Karpholite
12. Und1fin3d - Try
13. Vidna Obmana - The Solitary circle
14. Reversed Fireworks - Falling

INTERVIEW

HT: How and when did you get into Ambient music?

KP: I first discovered Ambient music in 2004ish. I was on a vacation to northern Arizona in the Flagstaff area visiting the Grand Canyon and on the return home my friend and I decided to go to a shopping center into a Barnes and Noble book and Audio store. I was perusing the Electronic/New Age music section of the store. I'm not sure what made me decide but I grabbed Dr. Jeffery Thompson's Mind Awakened System 2.0 and it was from then on, I got into Ambient style music.

HT: What were the first records you discovered?

KP: Good question, since I mostly at the early stages listened to the Ambient station on the Di.fm radio station. I kind of stopped listening to Ambient music and didn't start to pick it up again till around 2012. It wasn't till 2018 when I started collecting Albums from artists like Hotel Neon, Alaskan Tapes and Innesti. These I still own to this day.

HT: You also make Chillout music. This does cross over with Ambient music in many ways but how would you say the styles differ?

KP: I would say Chillout integrates the presence of more percussions and can be more piano melodic driven. Where Ambient is mostly comprised of pads, soundscapes, and field recordings.

HT: Are there things you do differently in the studio when switching between the styles?

KP: With Chillout I tend to go with a bit more of a structure, intro, bridge, breakdown, outro. Ambient can be more of a live performance. I still use the same equipment and software, but my mindset to the approach varies slightly.

HT: What are you up to this year?

KP: This year I started my Ambient Forms Volume 1 Mix. I will also continue releasing music with Lemongrass Music, I'm going to look into doing some collaborations this year as well. One of my goals is to start talking to other artists about doing more live performances.

HT: Have you got any plans or projects beyond your Lost Horizons EP?

KP: I have my 9 track Chillout Album titled 'Bijou of My Heart' which was released at the weekend on Lemongrass music:

HT: Where can readers of this blog post find out more about your music?

KP: They can find me on Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube, all the major streaming platforms and on the Lemongrass Music website.

If you enjoy Kevin's Ambient Forms mix and you're curious to take a listen to his Lost Horizons EP, hit the play button below to take a listen or click HERE to visit the release page.