Blog Archives

Track list:
1 Tilleul

Release description:
As we reach the fourth and final part of the much talked about Four Pieces series I find myself at something of a loss for words. I know for a fact that everyone has their own favourite so far and I’ve always had a tremendous soft spot for ‘Tilleul’.

There’s something classical about it that I can’t quite put my finger one – maybe it’s the very slight discordance that lies in the background, or maybe it’s just the structure itself that lends itself to that comparison, I don’t know. What I do know is that this really is just as deep and beautiful as you’d expect and has a magical sense of flow to it. Contemporary ambience comes in many shapes and forms but Celer really do have a unique and instantly identifiable style and way of putting together compositions. There’s a calming and serene tone to this that’s balanced by a slightly darker lilt that gives it an edge. In fact I think it sits neatly between ‘Photophores’ and ‘Balsam’ sound-wise and in the same way that the first two releases seemed to flow into each other, I really get that sense here as well. Although all these pieces were written in different months in 2007 they seem to share a common theme and feeling and this is why I believe they work so well as a series.

So put it on, sit back and for 20 minutes allow yourself to be enveloped by the frankly incredible sounds of Celer once again. I can’t overstate it enough when I say it really has been an honour and a privilege to be involved with this series and, as much as I have a bitter-sweet feeling about reaching the final instalment, I’m so glad to have had this opportunity. This is music to be treasured and cherished. And you know what? I absolutely know it will be.

Track list:
1. The Die That’s Caste

Release description:
‘The Die That’s Caste’ is packaged in a mini DVD/half size case, 3″cdr white printable, numbered edition, limited to 100 copies, with cover photography taken by Ana Zarco in Cramond, Scotland, in August 2010. Layout and audio mastering by m.a.tolosa.

Track list:
1 Hatta / Gliding In The Absolute / Circular Square, Exhaust, Anti-American Protest / A Less Representation Of Myself / Masjid Istiqlal / Breathing Effects, And A Lack Of / Mosquito / Feigned Ignorance And Dissimulation / Ultraclimax / The Romance Of Travel / As Ever

Track list:
1. Emotion

Release description:
‘Emotion’ was created specifically for the January Japan tour of Celer and Illuha. The CDR version was made in an edition of 10 copies, including a gold CDR, a hand-painted smoky blue and orange thin jewel case, and a wraparound original tape loop, with the album info written in gold.

Track list:
1 Bliksem

Release description:
‘Bliksem’ was created specifically as a special tour CDR for the March tour of the Netherlands and Belgium with Machinefabriek, in a limited edition of 10 copies. The title ‘Bliksem’ is the Dutch word for ‘lightning’. It was chosen because the piece was made by loop and electronics improvisation the night before flying to the Netherlands. The paint wasn’t even completely dry on the CDRs when I arrived.

Recorded March 13, around midnight.

Track list:
1 Slightly Apart, Almost Touching
2 Distressing Sensations
3 Ultra-terrestrial Yearning
4 Absolute Receptivity of All the Senses

Release description:
Recorded in July and August 2012 at Tatami Studios, Tokyo, Japan. All music by Will Long. Released as a limited edition CDR on Still*Sleep.

Track list:
1 Motionless At Lake Underhere / Losing Funnel / Whirlybirdy / Entrancing Entrenchment / Midnight On The Streets Around The Pointed Towers Of Gading Kirana / Lazy Beauty
2 Layered Where I Can Listen Closely / Backseat Fadeout / An Infinite Blast Of Icy Air / Delayed Jitterbugs / Sampoernas Rising In The Heat Of Summer
3 Fill Your Light With Lessness / Untitled / Guilt As A Return To Melancholy

Release description:
Celer is the solo ambient project of sound artist Will Long, who works out of Tokyo, Japan. He is well known for producing dense, emotive creations that are never lost in the gloom of myriad other ambient releases, due to the remarkable delicacy of each layer of sound in his pieces, which never become overwhelming or too drawn-out to to sustain their initial emotional content, as is so often the case with many extended ambient compositions.

Indeed, the thought that goes into Celer releases is evident from the incredibly detailed titles that Long has given to each of the three tracks on Epicentral Examples of the More or Less, with each small portion of the title being relevant to an individual phase within each overall track – an arrangement choice which is made, on listening, into a feat of compositional skill, due to the fact that the tracks, even when starkly cutting between samples of reversing tapes, field recordings, and Celer’s trademark throbbing, glowing drones, at no point ever sound merely like a compilation of small pieces.

Rather, the album remains cohesive overall, and whilst at points the listener is met with surprises in the form of phasing waves of bright sequencers – a sound that many would never have imagined Long using after listening to releases such as Evaporate and Wonder – or even acid-house synth waves on Fill Your Light With Lessness from the third and final track – Epicentral Examples of the More or Less retains the genuine emotive content that has become a cornerstone of Celer releases, coupled with a creative talent that leaves most contemporary ambient music dead in the water.

Recorded over two years in Jakarta, Indonesia and Tokyo, Long appears to have had time to revisit these recordings over and over again, allowing him to produce a release that is simultaneously a step forward for Celer’s sound, and the level of musical wizardry that the rest of the ambient scene must now aspire to reach.

Track list:
1 Weak Ends

Release description:
Sitting on the mountainside, the palm forests looked down over the farm-tilled sugar cane fields, and beyond over the blue and turquoise ocean. The towns were littered and far away, made of sand-bleached houses with toys sitting in the yard. We tiptoed over the broken coral rocks to the beach, and stayed there under the passing thunder clouds, the ocean turning a deep blue, and melting into the evening. We walked through the town looking for dinner, checking out the front of every restaurant in the town before finally choosing the one across the street from our hotel. Once back at the hotel, we washed our clothes in the hotel washing machine, channel surfed through the same 5 channels without success, and fell asleep. Two weeks later, I still have sand in my shoes.

‘Weak Ends’ was recorded and mixed before and after a trip to Okinawa in July, 2013. It included a PDF of seven selected photographs.

‘Weak Ends’ was available in a limited edition CDR package on the August 2013 Japan tour of Celer with Christoph Heemann and Jim O’Rourke.