Experimental and original, the music of Rudy Adrian is always an adventure. With his latest release, WOODLANDS, Adrian has created a moving, ambient electronic impression of the wild forests and planted parks of Dunedin, NZ. His music is often likened to that of Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, and Jean-Michel Jarre, and yet Adrian is wholly-unique in his ability to capture his greatest inspiration — the stunning natural spaces in his home country of New Zealand — in a deep and listenable way. Woodlands is available in all formats on October 25, 2019.
Press release by Spotted Peccary Music
Woodlands’ 13 deep and enchanting tracks naturally continue the artistic thread from Adrian’s two previous Spotted Peccary releases, Atmospheres and Coastlines. Stirring atmospherics, natural ambiances and delicate synthscapes slowly evolve and drift through a forest of mystical moods and sacred spaces, creating a timeless work of textural electronic beauty. The album is filled with the slowly evolving melodies, harmonically-rich textures, subtle ambiances, otherworldly vocal effects, and sublime moments that listeners have come to expect from a Rudy Adrian album; fans of Rudy’s previous works will recognize the Baroque flute of Nick Prosser on the track “Deep Within Forbidden Mountains.” Infused with the essence of wind, distant water, and the echoes of life, the mysterious music of Woodlands renders a deep and tranquil soundtrack; a serene reflection of long walks within wooded wonderlands where scattered light filters through the spreading boughs of forest trees.
Woodlands’ 13 deep and enchanting tracks naturally continue the artistic thread from Adrian’s two previous Spotted Peccary releases, Atmospheres and Coastlines. Stirring atmospherics, natural ambiances and delicate synthscapes slowly evolve and drift through a forest of mystical moods and sacred spaces, creating a timeless work of textural electronic beauty. The album is filled with the slowly evolving melodies, harmonically-rich textures, subtle ambiances, otherworldly vocal effects, and sublime moments that listeners have come to expect from a Rudy Adrian album; fans of Rudy’s previous works will recognize the Baroque flute of Nick Prosser on the track “Deep Within Forbidden Mountains.” Infused with the essence of wind, distant water, and the echoes of life, the mysterious music of Woodlands renders a deep and tranquil soundtrack; a serene reflection of long walks within wooded wonderlands where scattered light filters through the spreading boughs of forest trees.
Music and nature have always gone hand-in-hand for the multi-talented Adrian. He began making electronic music while studying Forestry Science at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, and in the following years at the University of Otago while completing a degree in Botany. The natural world continues to be a common thread in Adrian’s music through the exploration of sonic landscapes, where melody and rhythm play a secondary role to the textures created by synthesizers, wood flutes and the human voice. Woodlands is Rudy Adrian’s sixth release on the Spotted Peccary Label. His previous label releases include the immensely popular MoonWater, Desert Realms, Distant Stars, Atmospheres and Coastlines.
Adrian shares insights on the making of the album, noting that “all the music on Woodlands was created using a Yamaha SY77 synthesiser, and in some cases a Kurzweil K2000R sampler was additionally employed. A very small number of samples originate from Kit Watkins’ collection of sounds on Q-Up Arts Ambient Realms CD. Except for the two live improvisations, the music on this album was arranged as sequenced MIDI notes. I use Mark of the Unicorn’s Performer 2.31+ software on a one-megabyte Apple Macintosh Plus computer. Some vocal overdubs were done with Avid Technology’s Pro Tools sound design software at Taylormade Media.”
