Ryefield Society - Artless Ostinati

Released: April 17

On his first full length album released through South Korea-based Huinali Records, French producer Ryefield Society effectively combines elements of ambient, downtempo, and experimental piano lines into an intimate experience that is soft and discrete. It opens up with the piano-based "Taken Away" which may convince you at first that this is strictly a piano album, until a soft and clicky drum track joins in, bringing a new dimension to the composition. This motif repeats throughout whole runtime of the album, switching effortlessly between downtempo beats and purely ambient pad-driven works. 

"Teen Dreams" continues with deep pads and soft percussion as it slowly shifts into "Faux Espoirs" which substitutes in a more complex rhythm alongside soft keys and a pulsating beep that brings a slightly chaotic energy to the track. Among all this softness and eclectic soundscape magic, "Note to Self" caught me a bit by surprise as the track slowly introduces a consistent and deep bass kick that moves the track into a different direction before it ends with a synthetic-sounding vocal sample that reminded me a bit of when I was playing a bit too much Portal. The album ends with a remix of the fourth track "Printed Memory" which removes the abstract rhythm and replaces it with heavily reverberated pads and quiet field recordings that add the tiniest bits of ear candy to the atmosphere.