AARON HOLM – THE BOY – DISSOLVE RECORDS

Aaron Holm is a Seattle-based producer who blends field recordings into his ambient music, and gives them extra emotion with the addition of human voices. That may sound like an incredibly obvious thing to say, but the human voices are clearly recorded ‘in the moment’, rather than being specially pointed towards this album. At least, that’s how the child’s rendition of ‘Catch a Falling Star’ comes across, being a response to a school shooting in Newtown. ‘The Boy’ achieves a lovely stillness, with metallic chimes in the distance, while ‘Wards Island’ has an Eastern feel to its musical language. Holm casts his net far and wide, showing influences from the likes of Brian Eno and Future Sound of London but making music that is clearly personal to himself. It makes for a warm-hearted and often emotive listen at either end of the day.

4 out of 5

Reviewed by: Ben Hogwood