Angophora | Together

ZZZV21002

27/08/21

Black vinyl

Music For Dreams are proud to present the sophomore LP, Together, by ambient geonauts Angophora. How to describe this Australian duo’s (consisting of Max Santilli and Jacob Fugar) sound when the comments on Bandcamp already do such a perfect job? Music for watching waves; music infused sharply with crushed ants and Eucalyptus; like climbing into one of those gaping holes in a big Mountain Ash that a possum has inhabited with a collection of mid-century synths.

I could add to the epithets: ‘soundtracks for turning off your iPhone’ or ‘new age John Fahey’ or something like that but I think you get the point. Angophora’s music is deeply in touch with nature and its correlate moods, in inspiration and in evocation.

We’ve got nine tracks of ambient pop, at times probing a sort of jazzy post-rock. Departing the electronically premised sound of their debut, Together finds its footing in more acoustic steppes. The two central figures are the acoustic guitar (played by both) and the percussion (Max) but listen closely and you’ll hear piano, electric guitar, synths and other various bits and pieces drifting around. Guitar figures sailing through unspoiled firmaments. Shaded percussion attending reverbed washes so you can feel the wide open spaces configuring around you. Everything ebbs and flows in gentle layers. It’s balmy, meditative, not to mention totally gorgeous.

‘Angophora’ is the botanical name for the Sydney red gum tree, an emblematic piece of the distinctive East Australian nature. Both Santilli and Fugar grew up in the semi-rural outskirts of Sydney.

The connection with the natural environments of the bush fostered here is what they seek to articulate through music.

The duo first met in 2014 and started jamming in Santilli’s dad’s garage in Kenthurst. Pursuing a shared interest in electronic gear, they quickly began to incorporate synths and drum machines into sessions. A sound crystallized between them and the songs recorded during those years became their debut LP, Scenes, released in 2018 on Ken Oath Records.

By the time of that release though, they had already drifted towards a more organic sound, with a growing appreciation for acoustic instruments and Santilli picking up various ethnocultural percussion styles. This leads us to Together, the result of 4-5 years of intermittent sessions and sound work culminating in a focused stretch during 2019 in which all these works were recorded.