Malleable Music

New York based musician Arp released a sequel debut album, In Light. Like a soundtrack to an avant-garde independent film, The Soft Wave brings you a collection of raining analogue patterns in a boldly chill manner.

Slowly and with a pulsing, echoing reverberation, The Soft Wave leads into trickling percussions on the appropriately titled “Pastoral Symphony: I. Dominoes II. Infinity Room.” With consistent use of heavy arpeggiation and reverb distortion, all of The Soft Wave sounds like a single flowing wave of droning ambient harmony with distorted dissonance peppered in. There are no vocals in The Soft Wave, but rather a waxing and waning blend of instruments. The bass guitar on “Grapefruit” is an interesting complement to the analogue piano that saturates this album. With a touch of retro and a bit of experimental, The Soft Wave involves both a varying collection of styles while still managing to stay within a limited range Arp has created for himself. That being said, every song on the album sounds kind of the same.

This psychedelic voyage of ambience is just the ticket for fans of the genre, although Arp’s style caters to a specific target audience in a daring, esoteric fashion. Set your brain on auto-pilot and drift away to the ebbing and flowing soundscapes of The Soft Wave.