Eleven interconnected pieces of ambient music dissolve the boundaries of traditional musical intervals in Drifting Intervals, the latest album by Czech musician, De Moi (Vojtech Vesely). This work is an exploration of harmonic transformation, where sound evolves beyond the conventional notion of notes and chords.
To grasp what Vesely has accomplished, imagine a duet for piano and cello. Each note begins with a strong presence, vibrating at a distinct frequency before gradually fading into silence. The next note follows, and the interplay between piano and cello introduces sudden shifts in timbre and atmosphere. Drifting Intervals, however, subverts this process entirely. Instead of discrete notes that decay into silence, Vesely’s sounds sustain their energy, gradually morphing in frequency and texture. There are no sharp transitions—only an imperceptible merging of tones, as if one color were slowly blending into another without a visible boundary.
This effect is achieved through Vesely’s innovative Drifting Intervals technique, which layers musical intervals using tape delays and deep reverb, allowing notes to dissolve into a continuously evolving harmonic texture. Drawing inspiration from William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops, the tape-delay explorations of Terry Riley and Robert Fripp, and the immersive acoustic experiments of Pauline Oliveros, Vesely creates an auditory space where sound seems to expand indefinitely. His use of simulated echoes in an imagined environment several kilometers wide enhances the illusion of weightlessness—removing any sense of a defined starting point or resolution.
That being said, this does not mean the music lacks expressive quality. On the contrary, it acts as a driving force, creating its own realm, defying reality as we know it, and establishing its own expressive nuances within that world.
Listening to Drifting Intervals feels like drifting in zero gravity. There is no sense of ground, no sharp edges, no sudden movements—only a vast, meditative suspension in sound. Changes occur so subtly that they escape immediate perception, yet over time, the entire sonic landscape transforms completely. The music does not progress in the traditional sense; it simply exists, constantly shifting in ways that defy expectation.
Drifting Intervals is not something that can simply be described—it must be experienced. No matter what I write here, you cannot truly grasp it unless you listen with your whole heart. My suggestion is to listen with headphones and closed eyes; only then will you see a world by your ears but hidden from your eyes.
Drifting Intervals invites listeners to surrender to its slow-moving current, dissolving into a space where time, harmony, and structure blur into something entirely new.
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