On January 13th, Joachim Spieth is releasing his 3rd album on Affin: ‘Ousia’. Featuring 8 atmospheric ambient tracks, this musical journey offers a deep moment of introspection, triggering elaborate concerns about our future and finding a form of mental peace.
2020 has been a challenging year, not only for the music industry with all of the event cancellations, but also for all of us. In this year, distance played a large role with people, especially in regards to our daily routine. This moment of pause allowed many of us to take a step back in our lives and rethink the world we live in; our environment, our future, and our inner selves.
The global corona pandemic has generated a movement of fear, and, to fight against these negative energies, everyone has developed their own techniques, such as cooking, painting, sports, yoga, or mediation. For us, deep techno enthusiasts, this has led us to listen to more Ambient music. Not only does this music genre increase concentration during home office hours, it actually induces that state of relaxation and contemplation that some of us felt was lacking in our existence.
‘Ambient is the answer!’
Ambient music is about evasion, creating new spaces of consciousness between external and internal perceptions. Stepping away from conventional rhythms or fast repetitive beats, this genre explores a form of ‘visual’ sound, often composed of nature soundscapes, field recording, complex sonic textures, or acoustic instruments.
Following his first ambient album “Tides” released in March 2020, Joachim Spieth explores with “Ousia” another type of spatial music, creating a state of awareness of the spatiality of sound and thus conditioning listeners to deep listening.
We all know Joachim Spieth as the owner of the Affin label and as a talented DJ and producer. He’s been influencing the deep techno scene for over a decade, releasing outstanding tracks and curating new talent. Since the late 90s and his first releases on the famous Kompakt label, Joachim has proven his skills as a music producer and shaped a specific sound signature, oscillating between techno and ambient soundscapes.
After his first ambient release 20 years ago on ‘Pop Ambient’, his recent renewed interest in this genre has led him to produce brilliant new tracks.
Working on the invisible link between the intellectual and the emotional, Joachim creates through his music a form of spatial imagery, where listens are immersed in their imaginary world. This experience of visualizing landscape, like flying over oceans and forests, produces a profound sensation of peacefulness. This practice of ‘mental travel’ can be likened to a form of meditation or spiritual journey.
Video by Hala Ghatasheh
Inspired by the past lockdown period and a trip to Athens, where the cover picture was taken, Joachim’s upcoming album ‘Ousia’ takes listeners on a great journey of relaxation. Through atmospheric pads, piano notes and cinematic soundscapes, he pushes us to discover the beauty of nature and calm.
This feeling of contemplative spaciousness is enhanced by specific nature soundscapes. For example, in ‘Akasha’, we can perceive some elements imitating the wind, creating a sensation of floating. In ’Anta’, the last track of the release, the pads are designed in a way that we could hear waves coming and going on the sand, as if facing the sea alone we were surrounded by sounds.
Available on vinyl and digital, I personally recommend this album to any ambient lover or anyone looking to experience the power of atmospheric music. The exercise of the “mental journey” stimulates for me another kind of consciousness, similar to lucid dreams, and gives a certain form of freedom.
Order on:
– Bandcamp: https://joachimspieth.bandcamp.com/album/ousia
– DeeJay: https://www.deejay.de/Joachim_Spieth_Ousia_2x12_AFFINLP003LTD_Vinyl__963361