»OIO« by Various Artists

After a lot of hard work, planning and preparation it is with great pride and excitement that we unveil the tenth release at Serein. On the cusp of celebrating our first birthday it seems fitting that we should also hit double figures, here’s to the next ten.

The release is titled ‘OIO’ and is a VA album featuring label mainstays Marcel Türkowsky, Herzog, Stephane Leonard, Huw Roberts, Mark Templeton, 1000 Hours of Staring and Muhr. We are also very happy to welcome Yannick Franck and Olivier Pé to the ranks.

With nine tracks in all and a playing length just short of an hour, it is fair to say that this is a rather special collection of work, with all the ingredients you’d expect from a Serein release and more. Full of undulating, sun soaked atmospheres, plucked guitar strings and waves of pure pleasure to get lost in, this could well be the perfect accompaniment to see you through the winter months. From the blissful modern ambient works of ‘Kuro Sawa’ and ‘A Dolce in Sun’ to guitar led pieces such as ‘L’écoulement’ and ‘Further to Speak’, the compilation explores a variety of sounds and ideas while remaining true to a central theme of uncomplicated beauty.

Those of you familiar with previous releases will be pleased to hear Herzog and Muhr in excellent form with melody and warmth in equal parts, as well as another cameo appearance from Mark Templeton with a gritty, earth shaking piece of music. 1000 Hours of Staring returns under sole command of Mike Ramsey with layered guitars and percussion, while Stephane Leonard appears twice with two very different pieces, one a melancholic string laden affair, the other an other-worldly fusion of distorted keyboards and field recordings. Marcel Türkowsky and Huw Roberts man the relaxation stations with their intoxicating ambient compositions imbued with all things dreamy and ethereal. Bringing the collection to a close are Yannick Franck and Olivier Pé with their all out experimental symphony of voices and harmonics. With high resolution artwork accompanying the music, we hope you’ll forgive us for feeling rather pleased with ourselves about this one!

1. kuro sawa
2. perhaps she’d like to see me fall apart
3. wanna be
4. a dolce in sun
5. further to speak
6. north
7. do you wander?
8. l’ecoulement
9. #004