Oh, where to start? I suppose it’s worth taking a brief step back to 2016, with its odd releases: Ignition of the Sun as two separate mixes on two formats, Blackhill Transmitter as a compilation of EP tracks plus a couple of new pieces, and of course Environment Six Plus, two different albums from the same sessions, released separately, but also as a limited edition double pack. And then the announcement of the Calendar Album, a track released once a month over the course of a year to create a new album. In fact, to find another ‘conventional’ album release, you have to go as far back as September 2014 with Environment Five. Had the band given up on traditional albums? (Hint: pretty much). Pandemonium shared an image of a forthcoming release’s tracklist with the FSOLBoard in February 2017, showing the appearance of ‘Viewed from Pushkinova 7’, named after his home address; I was already familiar with the release, and teased the board with the fact that it would blur the line between the current ongoing series, and move further away from what an album could be. This met with a mixed response, some excited for new music regardless of the name, others frustrated with what was already an overwhelming amount of music released each year.
For a few years, Record Store Day had offered fans the opportunity to pick up collectors items, reissues, remix 12″s and such, and had generally been fairly unpopular in terms of scarcity and eBay scalper prices after the event. So when this mystery project was announced to be a Record Store Day exclusive, there was a bit of a sigh. Still, previous releases were always sold through FSOLDigital following the event, and often found their way out as digital editions later on, so there was largely a positive response. A triple vinyl album with an album of Archived tracks, a new Environments record and an album of largely unheard Views pieces, containing 35 new tracks in total was nothing to be sniffed at. As ever, Amazon provided the news of what this would be, with a pre-order for a CD edition, containing the entire Environmental album, one Archived piece, and a handful of the Views tracks. I would have preferred a double album of the whole thing – or at least all 35 exclusives – but then I’m greedy.
You find it in almost all of my writing, but I tend to focus on the negatives, before overshadowing them with the positives. Maybe it helps lower expectations, only to end on a high note. That’s the format I decided upon for this, anyway. So, the negatives. Why the previously heard tracks? On the Archived disc in particular, they don’t add anything other than a sense of displacement: it’s hard to appreciate it as a record of its own, because there are a handful of familiar tracks among all the new ones. Especially ‘Lizzard Crawl’, which some people would have purchased on six separate releases by this point. Given how many tracks there are in the band’s archives, it feels like a missed opportunity to make a fully absorbing new world here by including incredibly well known pieces. Similarly, the four previously available tracks on Views, which are slightly jarring (especially ‘Viewed from Above’ being the album closer, after nine years of being heard as an album opener), although here the stylistic consistency does at least provide a good reason for their appearance. Environmental itself is hard to criticise. As for the CD version, it contains two tracks not on the vinyl edition, which is a really nice bonus for CD buyers, but fairly recently I realised it would actually be possible to fit the whole of Environmental, the one chosen Archived track, and every new composition from Views on a single CD, which feels like a missed opportunity, especially given how good ‘Viewed from Far Hills’, ‘Viewed from Under Leaves’ and ‘Viewed from Rosey’s Perspective’ are. None of these make Archived : Environmental : Views a bad release in either of its formats – far from it – but once you’ve heard a release a number of times, it’s very easy to get caught up in overthinking things and working out how you would have done it.
Looking at the album once disc at a time, there’s a bit to say. Of the previously unreleased tracks on Archived, there’s absolutely nothing familiar at all. None of these pieces were played on ’90s ISDN transmissions, and very few of them really sound like ’90s work. As with Archived 8, it’s likely that any older pieces were reworked and added to for the album, and quite a few of the tracks are clearly more recent. Indeed, some pieces from the original scrapped edition of Environment Six appear on the album. If the nine unheard tracks were pieced together on one disc (or even one side of the vinyl edition), they could easily pass for a ‘new’ album.
Environmental album is the third part of the Environment Six trilogy, recorded at the same time. I’m really, really into continuity, listening to a band’s discography and finding one thing leading into the next, and although that often requires forcing a narrative that might not otherwise exist onto things, it’s always bothered me that you can basically hear a potential development of their sound if you listen in the slightly altered order of Environment 6.5, Environment Six and Environmental. I think I’ve mentioned that at least once before though. But yes, it feels like a natural extension of the electronic approach of Six, moving to an even starker, more minimal sound. While there’s definitely some obvious crossover between the three albums, it’s clear that the tracks were all selected for their own individual albums, and the choices are pretty wise. Environmental has its own sound and atmosphere: I’m generally left thinking of vast, wide open spaces, starkly austere landscapes, moors reaching out to sea shores. There’s a touch of Blackhill Transmitter in both the atmosphere and textures. It’s a lot less intense than the past few Environments albums and, unusually, features very few actual environments; despite the large number of tracks, they’re almost all proper compositions, albeit mostly very short ones.
Views is atmospherically quite similar, but musically very different. A collection of the modern classical pieces recorded by the band – frequently collaborating with Dan Pemberton – over the previous decade, it’s actually the ‘new album’ I was expecting them to release in the early 2010s. After the sound of Environments II and the piano section of the Oasis remix, it really felt like they were abandoning beats and moving towards an ambient/modern classical sound for the long-awaited new album. While this never quite happened, Views is a pretty good surrogate for that record. It’s varied enough in its approach, with a couple of major key tracks, a long of melancholic pieces, even a weirdly discordant track, and a great blend of piano, strings and other sounds. A lot of crumbly, glitchy textures appear throughout, adding an electronic layer to stop it from feeling purely like an acoustic record. The disc is notable for including the first two cover versions released as FSOL: Roger Eno’s ‘A Place in the Wilderness’, and Brian Eno & Harold Budd’s ‘Late October’.
The CD is a pretty strong selection in total. As previously mentioned, I would have preferred all the exclusive Views tracks at the end, as the three missing ones would actually fit. But including the whole of Environmental is incredibly wise, basically making it feel very much like a standalone album. ‘Where You Going’ is an odd choice for the one Archived track, as it’s the only piece on that disc that feels connected to the ’90s, and one of the other tracks would be a better fit. Nevertheless, it’s hard to argue with the tracks really, and I think I’ve probably listened to this album more than Environment Six or 6.5. The spaciousness of the atmosphere really appeals to me.
The artwork differs between the two releases. I’ve never been too convinced by the 3LP version’s cover. The image is excellent – a mirrored shot of what looks like a pumping station – and the back cover’s tower shot is similarly striking, but neither match the more introspective, rural feel of the music. Both shots are notable for being the first time Brian’s brother Alan provided artwork for the band, and the first FSOL cover not to be designed by Buggy since ‘We Have Explosive‘ 20 years before, if you don’t count 2001’s Amorphous-esque Translations. Alan’s photos are fantastic, but have a certain sheen to them that makes them feel very different to Buggy’s style; the triple gatefold spread on the inside includes Buggy’s only contribution, a wonderful blue tinted landscape shot called ‘Blue Bridge’, which highlights the differences. As with Environment 6.5, the front features the cover image in a central box, surrounded by black which features not only the band name and title, but the curves, Herd Killing and EBV logos. In the top right is a white space where each copy features a hand-stamped number, indicating which of the 2,000 copies it is. That number is massively preferable to the limitation of 500 given to previous RSD releases. As such, a large number of fans after the album were able to secure one fairly easily, especially with FSOLDigital selling their own stock and then a handful of unsold copies a few days later.
The CD art feels much more fitting to the music for me. The cover features a seashore image, spied through an abstract curved shape (itself part of the logo for the band’s own HALia synth), and the rear cover showing a grainy shot of a windfarm, overlaid with chevrons. The white and blue colours and open spaces in these shots are a perfect pairing with the music itself, something not always guaranteed during the FSOLDigital era. The booklet also features a couple of stunning forest photographs, with their own overlaid shapes, Buggy’s ‘Blue Bridge’ shot, as well as another sea photo and a sky shot, with the HALia shape overlaid. The CD itself features that sea and HALia image with different colours, as well as the title and Herd Killing, curves and EBV logos. The three logos are also included on the back cover, underneath the credits. The art is credited to Yage, for the first time. The emphasis on gear continues, with HaLia, EMS, Digitana and Skyflow all referenced in the credits. In what feels like a return to the earlier FSOLDigital releases, the spine matches the spines of Environment Six and 6.5. This makes me inordinately happy.
Only one music video was created for the album, for ‘Viewed from Rosey’s Perspective’. The track is named after my dog, Rosey, and I contributed the footage of her running around, which the band then processed to make a wonderful little film to accompany the beautiful track. At this point I’d released music on FSOLDigital and been asked to remix the band, but playing a part in the official promotional campaign, and having a track named after my dog, both of these were a huge honour. Having suffered with mental health issues in the past few years, quite severely at times, Rosey has been a great comfort to me, and to have her immortalised like this by my favourite band is truly one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me.
I’ve spoken a lot about what this album isn’t, and possibly given the suggestion that I don’t have that much time for the record. Which isn’t true. When focusing entirely on what A:E:V is, it’s hard to deny that it’s one of the strongest entries into the band’s catalogue, with both Environmental and Views being up there with the most beautiful music released as FSOL. Had those three remaining Views tracks been included on the CD version (here I go again…), that particular edition would probably be a contender for my FSOL top five. As it stands, it’s still one of my absolute favourites. And while the 3LP edition is obviously long, the CD edition also runs to 74 minutes, making it the longest FSOL CD since ISDN. Let’s close with the wordy press release for the album:
This Triple album brings together the two main strands of FSOL’s current output, namely the From the Archives series and the Environments albums. Comprising a total 48 tracks, 35 of them are new or previously unreleased:
The Archived section pulls 8 previously released tracks from the series but in some cases new mixes of these tracks have been created specially for this release. The other 9 tracks are unreleased Archive tracks from the vast vaults of FSOL.
FSOL are well known for their prodigious output, regularly going through periods of creating several tracks a day. Many of these tracks would be ‘lost’ only for not fitting current projects, created only for special live events and broadcasts or would change so drastically during the recording process that the original version would bear little resemblance to the released track. From the Archives seeks to give light to these tracks that are as good as anything released on their ‘official’ albums.
Environmental is 16 brand new tracks which continues the journey along the ambient environmental path. As the title suggests, each Environments album is a journey through a specific mood, place or environment.
Views brings together much of the piano work FSOL have done over the years and also includes 2 new cover versions of tracks by Brian Eno and his brother Roger Eno. The piano is mainly played by Grammy Nominated / Ivor Novello Winner Daniel Pemberton – well known for his film score work – (Gold, Steve Jobs, King Arthur). Contains 10 previously unreleased tracks.
Release date: 22nd April 2017 (3LP), 5th May 2017 (CD).
Tracklists
3LP (LPRSDTOT72)
A1. Outer Heaven (2017 Version)
A2. Mouth Muse
A3. Culture of Individuality
A4. Fault Line
A5. 5 Months 5 Acres
A6. Light Forming (2017 Edit)
A7. Meanwhile
A8. Mango Tree
A9. Where You Going
B1. Lizard Crawl
B2. Woodland
B3. This Day Before Me
B4. Gas Mask 13
B5. Numbers and Colours
B6. Contraband
B7. Loudoun Hill
B8. She Fell Backwards
C1. Persistence of Vision
C2. Normality Returns
C3. Hapn
C4. Semi Detached
C5. Unforth
C6. Its Very Existence
C7. Fallin Through
C8. Sea Pig
D1. Opposite of Thought
D2. Looking Out a Narrow Window
D3. Drifting In and Out
D4. Silence in Her Eyes
D5. Boulton
D6. Intermodulation Distortion
D7. Everyone Who is Not Here
D8. In a Way, They Do…
E1. Viewed from Pushkinova 7
E2. A Place in the Wilderness
E3. Viewed from Below the Surface (2017 Version)
E4. Viewed from Little Boats
E5. Late October
E6. The Oldest Lady
F1. Viewed Through Apertures
F2. Viewed from an Obscure Angle
F3. Viewed from Far Hills
F4. Viewed from Across the Room
F5. Viewed from Rosey’s Perspective
F6. Viewed from Under Leaves
F7. Source of Uncertainty (Original Long Mix)
F8. The House in the Woods
F9. Viewed from Above
Digital download
1. Outer Heaven (2017 Version)
2. Mouth Muse
3. Culture of Individuality
4. Fault Line
5. 5 Months 5 Acres
6. Light Forming (2017 Edit)
7. Meanwhile
8. Mango Tree
9. Where You Going
10. Lizard Crawl
11. Woodland
12. This Day Before Me
13. Gas Mask 13
14. Numbers and Colours
15. Contraband
16. Loudoun Hill
17. She Fell Backwards
18. Persistence of Vision
19. Normality Returns
20. Hapn
21. Semi Detached
22. Unforth
23. Its Very Existence
24. Fallin Through
25. Sea Pig
26. Opposite of Thought
27. Looking Out a Narrow Window
28. Drifting In and Out
29. Silence in Her Eyes
30. Boulton
31. Intermodulation Distortion
32. Everyone Who is Not Here
33. In a Way, They Do…
34. Viewed from Pushkinova 7
35. A Place in the Wilderness
36. Viewed from Below the Surface (2017 Version)
37. Viewed from Little Boats
38. Late October
39. The Oldest Lady
40. Viewed Through Apertures
41. Viewed from an Obscure Angle
42. Viewed from Far Hills
43. Viewed from Across the Room
44. Viewed from Rosey’s Perspective
45. Viewed from Under Leaves
46. Source of Uncertainty (Original Long Mix)
47. The House in the Woods
48. Viewed from Above
CD (CDTOT 72)
1. Persistence of Vision
2. Normality Returns
3. Hapn
4. Semi Detached
5. Unforth
6. Its Very Existence
7. Fallin Through
8. Sea Pig
9. Opposite of Thought
10. Looking Out a Narrow Window
11. Drifting In and Out
12. Silence in Her Eyes
13. Boulton
14. Intermodulation Distortion
15. Everyone Who is Not Here
16. A Place in the Wilderness
17. Where You Going
18. Late October
19. The House in the Woods
20. Viewed from Pushkinova 7
21. In a Way, They Do…
22. Viewed from Little Boats
23. Half Light
24. Perpendicular
Credits
All tracks written by Brian Dougans / Gaz Cobain.
‘Viewed from Below the Surface (2017 Version)’, ‘The Oldest Lady’, ‘Viewed from Obscure Angles’, ‘Viewed from Across the Room’, ‘Viewed from Rosey’s Perspective’, ‘Viewed from Under Leaves’, ‘Source of Uncertainty (Original Long Mix)’ and ‘Viewed from Above’ written by Brian Dougans, Gaz Cobain, Daniel Pemberton.
‘A Place in the Wilderness’ written by Roger Eno.
‘Late October’ written by Brian Eno / Harold Budd.
Produced by FSOL.
Engineered by Yage for EbV 2017.
Mixed at 9LW.
Archived mixed at 9LW/Earthbeat Studios.
‘Blue Bridge (inner gatefold) by Buggy G Riphead 2017 (3LP).
‘Blue Bridge’ by Buggy G Riphead (CD).
Front cover images by Alan Dougans – futuresightphotography.com (3LP)
Artwork by Yage (CD).
FSOL use HALia Synthesis / EMS instrumnets / Digitana Hardware.
Skyflow Projects Design.
Purchase from Bandcamp.
Purchase digital edition from FSOLDigital.
Fractional Difference 