Santos, Michael

Artist: Michael Santos
P: 2010
Wonderful and intense, deeply textured ambient soundscapes by London-based artist Michael Santos.
The use of static and white-noise elements within drone works is nothing new, yet what struck me was his ability to integrate static and noise under the skin of these deeply melodic tones, imbuing the structures with far more depth than I am used to in the genre. Static is such a strong element in his work, The Wire no less, even described listening to Michael’s music as ‘being drunk in a beehive’. I suppose it’s not a bad assessment, so long as you are a very happy, blissful drunk and not too afraid of bees.Yet apart from the sheer depth of the work of course, is the fact that through simple guitar and sine wave generation, ‘Memory Maker’ carves out something that is at once micro-elemental and yet really quite grandiose. From the first slow clicks that open the album with Alphaville, to the giant crescendo of Slowdance, ending with the beautiful thinly crusted melodies of Hollowing Out, it’s quite some journey. It’s about as beautiful and intelligently made ambient music as you are likely to find, a kind of urban soundtrack if you will.