Manual – “Confluence”
Confluence

This rather long track (13:10) migrates through a few distinct phases, all of them gauzy and ambient, and all pleasant and multi-layered. The slow-motion wash of distortion and soft noise gives way to a piano-pierced stillness of real craft and poignancy. The rest of this album moves along similar paths, and while it isn’t exciting, it’s beautiful and calming. (insound)

Sape homo de vanae gloriae contemptu vanius gloriatur.
A man can be most boastful in expressing his contempt of fame.

St. Augustine, Confessions

Vivere nolunt, mori nesciunt.
They will not die; they dare not live.

Seneca, Epistulae Morales

Let us not carry flame where light alone will suffice.

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Fennesz – “Glide”
Black Summer

This shimmery, noisy blanket is one of Fennesz’s most understated and beautiful tracks. It takes a while to get going, and the song really only takes up about seven minutes of the nine and a half it runs for. (insound)