STRFKR - Ambient 1 LP (Cream Vinyl)

Label: Polyvinyl Records

While there were four years between STRFKR’s 2016 album Being No One, Going Nowhere and Future Past Life, the mere months that followed resulted in the inspired and quickly-architected Ambient 1. STRFKR’s sound has morphed over the years through variations of hyper catchy, danceable pop, but this is something very different. Ambient 1 drifts through softly glowing electronic instrumentals that extract the synth core from the group’s well-established synth-pop sound. It’s patient, playful, and calming music that travels through passageways of chaos and anxiety on a journey towards healing.

Ambient 1 represents an extension of what STRFKR is capable of. Hodges' slow-blooming soundscapes and transcendent webs of synth and percussion might be some of the most unassuming, circuitous music he’s ever made, but it's also some of his most vulnerable work. The songs guide the listener through complex emotional territory, ultimately reaching a place of peace and beauty. Like some of the best ambient music, the feelings conveyed are all the more intense when they’re communicated without words.