Abandoned Cities presents Harold Budd working with synthesizer drones and suspended piano notes, far removed from the luminous piano collaborations that surround it in his discography. Its two long pieces unfold as dark, sustained environments with little conventional melody, emphasizing density, duration, and the feeling of moving through an emptied space. Austere and unusually ominous for Budd, the album reveals a harsher edge within his music of stillness.
appears in: editor's picks, essential ambient, reflection