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From the liner notes of this release “Hill towns and empty houses pass by, but the smoothness of the train blurs the view”; and this is all Will Long needs to say to portray what he is trying to achieve with this album. With the opening pads of ‘Circle Routes’, the listener is dragged into a sea of enriching ambient with direct immediacy, with layers of folding bliss that are as hypnotic as they are drenched in solitude; where just over nine minutes of your time disappear without realisation.

Each track is interspersed by a field recordings equivalent that represents Long’s daily life in Tokyo and these can be forgiven thematically speaking, as they drift and glue the reflections of Celer’s memories, that are evocatively played out on seas of endless apparitions.

From the desperate throttles of ‘Tangent Lines’, to the threads of hope portrayed on ‘Equal Moments of Completion’, Will Long cascades a shimmering array of swells and pitfalls that simultaneously spark images from all ranges of key change and sound; that disguise the similarities and familiarities of each song, complimenting each other as an albums worth of work, embodying a concept that never fails to impress; where on some other releases this would undoubtedly be deemed as ‘samey’.

As a whole, ‘Sky Limits’ provides enough of a rich tapestry as any for a self-respecting ambient fan to lap up with gusto. As such this isn’t an album that you can just pick up and play; it takes a set mood and space in time where the listener is prepared to sit down and wholeheartedly envelop themselves in another persons story.

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Is de bestemming het doel van de reis? Of is het reizen op zich al de bedoelde bestemming? Is het elders een uitgesteld thuiskomen, al dan niet met vreselijke heimwee? Of is het echte thuiskomen in eigen huis en haard de inspiratie voor het maken van nieuwe plannen voor tochten vanuit de veilige thuishaven? Is de ambient van Celer de reis of de aankomst, het vertrekpunt of misschien het thuiskomen en -zijn? Kun je in zijn nevelige en dromerige wereld overal een thuis vinden?

Will Long bouwt onder zijn artiestennaam Celer composities, die in en uit droomwerelden lijken te drijven. In zijn minimale stukken met serene modulaire structuren zit echter een diepe emotionele laag verstopt. Denk aan een landschap dat voorbijraast als je uit het raam van een trein kijkt. Dichtbij zie je een waas aan kleuren en lijnen, veraf de strakke horizon. Huizen, weilanden, windmolens. De randen van een stad doemen op, en dan: de drukte van een station. En vervolgens weer de relatieve kalmte van het platteland. Zo wisselen ook gedachten zich ondertussen af; van actuele tot mijmerende herinneringen, die in en uit elkaar geweven worden in een labyrintisch spel. Een spel dat verrassend genoeg veelal geen vertrek of aankomst kent, maar in een tussengebied danst tussen toen en dan.

Urbi et Orbi gedragen door een drone, als het spiegelende oppervlak van een meer dat niet beroerd wordt door wind; Longs ambient is als het Stars of the Lidachtige blanke doek waarop je je fantasie mag botvieren, en je beslommeringen lodderig de beslommeringen mag laten. Waarop ongrijpbaarheid van herinnering, droom en realiteit samensmelt met laag op laag aan uitgerekte landerige tonen, die Marsen Jules en ook Machinefabriek in je oproepen. Een plaat als een moment waarin alles kan en mag, en niks hoeft. Nergens en toch ergens.

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Fear of change, fear of altering the familiar and the habitual, it’s something we all dread; how many little details and moments do we look back on from our past that we wish we could experience again? Sometimes we’re afraid in the moment, knowing that at some point it’s going to end and become nothing more than a memory and we try to savour it as best we can, other times we don’t realise what we’re missing before it’s too late; those peaceful and frosty walks to school on clear days, the bustling of the corridors, the quick-stepping to lectures and the sweaty climb to the top of the quiet and sleepy department. It’s at times like these in the face of an imminent and lonely Winter that we mull upon these once frequent and retrospectively integral moments from our past.

The album is a seamless single act of 11 pieces, seguing perfectly from the meatier and more substantial long-form drone pieces to tiny, intimate interludes comprised of homely and familiar field recordings before moving back into the introspective palaces again. The bigger pieces are the kind we’ve come to expect from Celer at this point; delicious, perfectly crafted organic drone lines that emerge carefully and progress minimally in their heartfelt movements, focusing down on specific themes through the course of the record. Opener “Circle Routes” wakes the album up for us, lapping gentle waves of tidal, circular drones in fragile and thin currents against our sleepy minds, slowly gaining traction and becoming minutely denser across its warm span.

This briefly homely vibe is ensconced with “Making Tea Over A Rocket Launch”: relatively self-explanatory but perhaps quieter and more restrained than you’d expect. This intimate at-home pleasantry continues through the warm and loving sustained synth of “In Plum and Magenta”, rising out of the TV’s background noise in a resplendent and cosy rush of sound, savouring these quiet and brief moments as we sip tea and watch humanity explore the stars. But the melancholia arrives through the mid-album with “On The Shinkansen Leaving Kyoto” and it’s bigger partner “Tangent Lines”, never to completely depart us. Things begin to become insubstantial and metaphysical in the shimmery and daydreaming tracts of “Tangent Lines”, not living in the present but wishing to be somewhere familiar and calm even when that is our path.

Even more desirous is the lengthy “Equal To Moments of Completion”, carving out the densest and meatiest and most substantial drone lines of the record, repeating endlessly its elongate and yearning sequences over and over again, slowly descending into a dreamy and complete nothingness, wanting nothing more than to preserve the sleepy and warm rustlings of “A Morning”, of which it is “Wishes To Prolong”‘s agenda. It’s the most melancholic and minimal piece, a sad and delicate affair that knows all to well that this moment is nothing more than a fleeting one quickly lost and forever sought after, and its slow motions do more to solidify the moment in memory than they do to enhance its emotional effect when it’s most necessary.

This outward desire to keep these memorable instants is concluded in the appropriately titled closer “Attempts To Make Time Pass Differently”, also the longest track of the album. Its sound is reminiscent of the same desirous drones of “Equal To” but there’s something wholly more ponderous and weirdly lush and minutely detailed about this that its predecessor does not possess, something harmonious and actively fluxing in its presentation but also ultimately doomed to failure, which it recognises as it fades sadly to a premature darkness, leaving us alone in a morose void for the final minute of the record, left to our own devices to ponder what we could have done differently, if anything.

Sky Limits hits dangerously close to home and is probably one of Celer’s best works to date; not just because there’s a sense of relatability with the music, although it helps, but because it’s one of the most rigorously structured records he’s produced in quite some time, yet still somehow feels organic and natural in its progression and evolution, taking us through the motions of nostalgia and the fear or rather the deep desire to not have to age and move on from that which is familiar and comforting in the present. It’s a fragile and haunting record that both seems to last a lifetime and yet take no time at all; very strong effort from one of the best musicians in his field.

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In the mid-90′s, I boarded a Boeing 747 and flew across the Atlantic to Orlando, Florida. In that distant era, you could, for a couple of minutes or so, occasionally walk into the cockpit of a passenger jet on a long haul flight (accompanied by a member of the cabin crew), and say hi to the pilot and co-pilot (as you do). At 40, 000 feet, you could gaze out at the clear skies and the cloudy, vanilla scoops that concealed the sea, way below the plane. Nowadays, that’s unimaginable, as is the thought of smoking on a flight, but it really added to the enjoyment of traveling, especially when you consider that, in the 21st century, it’s becoming anything but enjoyable. Sky Limits helps to change that, reveling in the journey rather than the destination.

Celer‘s wispy, jet-lagged ambient music takes you away on its own journey. Slow to burn, Will Long’s music is heartfelt and cozy. It lets you drift away the day, a moment spent in dreamy transit. Celer’s music is high class music, no doubt about it. If you fly with him, you fly first class. In his hands, ambient music is effortless, just as it should be, and Sky Limits is another finely drawn entry. Will Long’s music is a serene window on the world, looking on at people and their emotional labyrinths. Thoughts blur – as does the countryside – as we travel through a green and pleasant land, kept guarded by nature. Sky Limits drops us off in a special place, a golden respite that we thought we’d never find.

The ambient atmosphere is slow, glacial, but in reality we’re moving at a fast pace; the high speed line takes us through cities, towns, unknown and undiscovered neighborhoods and rural communities. The music runs on a cushioned track, connecting the country and the landscape together, chaining them to the mind, body and soul. We can then link the music to a specific moment, a specific point in time and a golden experience; the place where we first heard that sound. Every time the music plays, it reminds us of how we felt, reminds us, somehow, of our own self.

As listeners, we’re on the inside, looking out at a beautiful, pristine horizon that glints and glows in the golden shadows of the sun, a fleeting moment never to be repeated. Celer makes the journey peaceful and serene, interspersing the ambient music with the everyday music of a terminal or a station, but he always brings us back to that restful place. Through “Circle Routes” and “Tangent Lines”, the music coasts along, taking with it a melancholic snapshot of an unforgettable place. You know deep in your heart that you won’t be returning anytime soon. His music has a special kind of clarity, like a lake of glass. Clarity of thought, clarity of air, clarity of mind. It stays with you. Celer’s music isn’t just beautiful. It’s also a reflection on life’s transitory state: in a second, we leave it all behind.

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There’s a very sad tale behind them. They started as a couple but she sadly passed away, and he continued ever since. It’s no coincidence the music is intensely beautiful. Very reminiscent of William Basinski, I think he uses the same process of archaic and warm loops that I think is central to process for Celer. Anything with loops captures me; I think ingrained in my soul is something to do with looping and repetition.

You could almost somewhat say that each ambient thing on this list is thematically united by looping, they all come from the same place. We could break each record down but what I’m drawn to is the same language. This one is just the latest Celer one I’m listening to. When I discovered them I found out their catalogue is humongous. I love nothing more than falling in love with a new artist and then discovering they’ve made about seven thousand albums, because it feels like I’m going to keep having this love affair over and over again. So that was about the sixth Celer record I listened to in the last three weeks. On their Bandcamp alone there must be 55 albums. So yeah, this is just the one I’ve been listening to the last week or so.

Thematically they, or he, seems to explore the same cycle: looping but with minute details and a maturing of the loop within, or a reduction. To me, when things sound archaic, they sound timeless and I love timelessness. It’s so evocative of this sense of infinity, which I love, I’m drawn to a void of nothingness and everything simultaneously, and Celer are reminiscent of that void for me. A lot of these artists touch on that.

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Celer’s torrent of releases seems to have slowed to a trickle of late, but it’s no surprise to see Will Long back on my review pile this week with another newie. This is one of two CDs out this week on Spekk which come in beautiful book-like oversized card sleeves. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the disc itself contains beautiful understated ambient drones.

There’s only one track on here, but it’s long and it’s droney, full of subtle deep space synthesis and that drifts forward on shuddering modulated chords. It’s airy and minimal but also a little dark and unsettling, with occasional distant disembodied voices and subtly discordant swells of half-melody. It unfolds gradually into a mournful rhythmic quiver that drones on for a very long time. If you like drones, and you like Celer, you’ll probably find it very enjoyable.

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