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Artist
Vincent I. Watson
12+ albums
ambientScottishBeatlesspyramids of mars
about
Vince Watson has always been a melody guy. The Scotsman has been prolific over his two decade-long career, and all-pervading lushness has always been the common thread. Beats been a fixture, too, all the way from 2001's classic Mystical Rhythm up until last year's Interference on Tresor. But if you heard Watson's recent LP Every Soul Needs a Guide, or you've seen him play live in the past 12 months, you'll know he's grown more and more keen to drop the drums. Not 100 percent of the time, and not for good, But enough to warrant using his unabbreviated first name (Vincent), inserting a very serious-sounding initial after it (L.), and making an entire album of beatless music titled Serene. Beatless, not ambient. Whether generated by throbbing synths or soaring crescendoes, there's far too much movement on Serene for it to comfortably fall into the ambient bracket—it's clearly a dance musician's version of the style. Take the grey, sheeting tones of "Re-Contact." The song is textbook dub techno, the type of thing where the beat would usually drop in after a few minutes. It almost feels like percussion was there, then removed post-production. But if Serene can occasionally feel like music with something missing, the absence of beats also allows Watson's superb grasp of composition more room to breathe than ever before. There's no waiting for the usual emotional breakdown: this is an hour of them. Spun together from a mass of shimmering textures and slow-rising chords, "Sagitaria"
