Fortresses
Eve
de6042
Label:
Dragon’s Eye Recordings
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Release date:
October 1, 2021
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Listen| Purchase:
Bandcamp | Spotify
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Track Listing:
1. June
2. Jade
3. Eve
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Duration:
22:18
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Credits:
Performed, composed, recorded, and mixed by Sam Ashton.
Mastered by Taylor Deupree.
Cover photography by Sam Ashton.
Cover design and layout by Yann Novak.
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Press release:
Fortresses guides a pensive, ethereal meditation on the passage of time with his debut release, Eve, on Dragon’s Eye Recordings.
A day may be observed by exact moments, counted down by the hands on a clock; or, its progress might be witnessed through less immediate means—a shift in shadows, the sky’s hue, the air as it warms and cools.
In this sense, Fortresses both measures the day with exactitude, and honors its slower unfoldings. Each of Eve’s three carefully crafted compositions allow the listener to hone in on a singular element, or lean back into a wider gentle drone. One can pinpoint a hint of static, or drift with a melodic looping hum as it phases in and out again.
In his own words Fortresses offered us some insight into the making of Eve:
Eve formed slowly during a self-reflective and transformative period in my life. The songs stand as a personal document of the time they were made and the rituals that gave shape to them—watching the seasons change from my studio window, letting the colours and qualities of light inspire the compositions; and long walks in East London’s natural and urban areas where I would listen to rough edits of the tracks and record open-air sounds that blended well with the music.
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Reviews | Features:
Stationary Travels
This assured and capable debut by multidisciplinary artist Sam Ashton under the alias of Fortresses presents three gently undulating drones made with a Mellotron iPhone app from manipulated guitar, synths, and field recordings that trace the arc of a day not by marking time itself but through the “less immediate means” of portraying shifting patterns of light, shadow, and color. The inspiration for its making arose from Ashton’s own walks around London, where he is based, and the breezes the rush through its streets and gardens are woven into his beautifully drawn melodic progressions.
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Stationary Travels
Ambient artist debuts are inherently low-key affairs and while they are often the antithesis of the burn from the first note ethos of pop music, they can in their own quiet way grab the attention of the discerning listener right from the off and create an instant sense that the journey they are about to undertake is being guided by steady hands. That is the sense I got from the first waves of sound and texture that rippled forth from Eve, by multidisciplinary artist Sam Ashton under the alias of Fortresses.
Comprising three gently undulating drones made with a Mellotron iPhone app from manipulated guitar, synth lines, and field recordings, the album traces the arc of a day not by marking time itself but through the “less immediate means” of portraying the shifting patterns of light, shadow, temperature, and color as it unfolds. The inspiration for its making arose from Ashton’s own walks around London, where he is based, and the breezes the rush through its streets and gardens are woven into his beautifully drawn melodic progressions.
Short enough to not overstay its welcome, but long enough to carry one deep into an autumnal mood, Eve is both an assured and reassuring debut from an artist I, for one, look forward to hearing more from.
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Fluid Radio
“Video Premiere: Fortresses — June”