Windy and Carl – We Will Always Be

There’s something reassuring about a new Windy and Carl release: despite the music’s drifting, anti-material qualities, its tendency to slip through the fingers, their boundless faith in the possibilities and power of ambient drone over a twenty-year career represents an unusually committed investment in a narrow, specific craft. The Michigan duo may often be labelled “experimental”, but their output is essentially an ongoing project to fully realise the latent emotional energies of a fairly simple and unchanging form.

We Will Always Be, then, is more of the same: almost entirely instrumental, the record comprises eight drawn-out drone compositions that merge seamlessly into one another, gradually generating a hypnotic intensity. The strongest definition achieved is on the crystalline picked guitar that hovers above the mix like icicles on The Frost in Winter. Despite the familiarity of the sonic landscape explored here, however, Windy and Carl are evidently still excavating valuable finds.