German musician Markus Guentner has found a way to mix serious concern about the current state of the world with sprawling ambient soundscapes to speak up in a wordless whisper on his new album On Brutal Soil, We Grow. He stretches notes until they almost become transparent, stacking layer-upon-layer to create a sonic carpet consisting of overlapping filigrees. This quiet intensity slowly takes over, until the noises of the outside world are completely gone.
Ambient music can transport the listener to another place and in this case it is sort of reassuring that besides the bleak outlook on life that is the main theme of this album there is also a glimmer of hope that humankind will put itself together and do an 180℃, steering away from the current clusterfuck. Guentner makes a case for being gentle, and he does so by offering beauty to all those with open minds and open ears.
