CELER "Without Retrospect, the Morning"

Celer is an ambient/soundscape project by Will Long, who has an extensive list of releases under his belt made as Celer and various other monikers.
The 52-minute outcome found on "Without Retrospect, the Morning" (which is the final part of the water-themed trilogy of albums that included the previous releases "Cursory Asperses" and "In Escaping Lakes") can be classified as profoundly quiet, slow morphing textural dwellings and glacial, airy tapestries.
Shaped and refined in severe winter conditions in South Alberta, Canada, Celer’s emotional and fragile long form music has a timeless and dreamy impact, while also evoking a deep sense of remoteness. A more up-front sense of drama and sound of drifting drones presents itself at the tail of the album, especially on "Distance and Mortality", before the music winds down in quiet currents and streams on the closing piece. All in all, the quality-ambience of "Without Retrospect, the Morning" is an intense audio companion transforming the feeling of being ultimately alone into sound, bringing a sense of consolation in the end while its flowing, tranquil tones gently evolve at its own pace.SONIC IMMERSION

Created while he was working as a photographer and surveyor in Alberta, Canada, ‘Without Retrospect, the Morning’ is one of the most glacial records Will Long has ever recorded, and given his catalogue that’s really saying something. Quiet to the point of near-silence, the music was pieced together with tape loops, synthesizer and piano and informed by the long, icy Canadian winter. The result is a collection of cold, mournful drones that drag you in and almost trick you into a false sense of security. In a way the music is a wooly counterpart to Thomas Koner’s dark atonal early trilogy of albums, and while both artists have taken similar subject matter they have ended on radically different conclusions.BOOMKAT

Un disco di Will Long su una delle migliori etichette italiane della scena ambient: anche a scatola chiusa, tripudio di applausi. Il motivo? Semplicemente, la Glacial Movements Records, avviata sei anni fa da Alessandro Tedeschi - noto anche come Netherworld - è sinonimo di garanzia in termini di scelta degli artisti - da Rapoon a Lull, passando per Skare, Aqua Dorsa, Stormloop, Pjusk, Oöphoi, fino ai nomi, per così dire 'maggiori', quali Francisco López, Bvdub, Loscil e gli ottimi Retina.it - per le proprie uscite, qualità audio e packaging curato e mai banale. Rifugiatosi a Tokyo, Celer, dopo la morte dell'amata moglie Danielle Baquet-Long a.k.a. Chubby Wolf, ha continuato a produrre da solo musica a oltranza e "Without Retrospect, The Morning" (2012) fa, infatti, parte di una trilogia 'acquatica' già avviata in precedenza, le cui registrazione risalgono all'inverno del 2009 quando lavorò come fotografo in Canada. Tra drone, field recordings e suoni sempre astratti e quanto minimalisti e sperimentali, nulla è mai fuori posto. Sublime. (Dr. Blowfin)WITCLUB NET

Je přecelerováno nebo Celeru není nikdy dost? Po původním obsazení v manželském duu s Danielle Baquet-Long, vystupující také jako Chubb Wolf (1983 – 2009), ovládl Will Long se svou abstraktně ambientní ne-hudbou, založenou většinou na field recordings, pole jako sólista a vychrlil řadu desek, většinou ve vlastní produkci. Ale spojil se i s dalšími, obdobně zaměřenými snovači zvuku (viz nedávnou recenzi v His Voice). Není divu, že se na něj obrátily ledově zacílené Glacial Movements, aby posílil jejich adoraci sněhu a ledu. Z CD Without Retrospect, the Morning vás však neovane ledová hrůza ani znásobený jekot meluzíny. Sedm atmosférických zastavení, nahrávaných v rozmezí let 2009 až 2001 v Kalifornii, Mississippi, Tokyu, ale především v kanadské Jižní Albertě, posbíralo všechno možné od poryvů počasí přes horské fukýře po popraskávání ledových plání, to vše donásobeno klavírem a syntezátorem, ale celkový „soundtrack“ byl vytěžen až následně nekonečným delayováním a mixováním.
Co z této činnosti vyplynulo, je ponořeno do zastřenosti, táhlé, nepříliš proměňované širosti a rozvíravosti na samé hranici slyšitelnosti, kdy máme pouze vytušit, co se děje. Tato zakletá zahloubenost rezonuje se vzduchem a snad i s dechem, je téměř nehlasná, místy osciluje do vytracena, je přímočará, neprovokující, ale právě v této umírněnosti vrstvení táhlých zvuků a v jejich nenápadném převrstvování se může zadřít pod kůži. Zdánlivá neproměnnost v jedné rovině, samovolný zvukový minimalismus, sunoucí ozvučené variace na téměř-ticho, uplývá do zahloučena nebo do ztracena, podeznívá usebraně na hraně neslyšitelna, jako by si tvůrce tohoto zvukového tušení řekl, že mlčeti je zlato..., jako by se ptal, komu že tady zvoní hrana...
Toto prokombinování povětrnostních nálad, odezva chladu či slunečního svitu, všudypřítomné jitřní jitření je zhmotněno do povlovně nabírajících a zabírajících šarád, které vytvářejí nevzrušené plochy se vzrušivým napětím. A tak ad infinitum. Glacial Movements Records si mohou připsat další kladný bod. A posluchač, který se do tohoto plynutí ponoří (nejlépe se sluchátky, aby mohl vychutnat právě ony méně zřetelné nuance), si může Longovo zaklínání dostatečně vychutnat. V tom je i odpověď na úvodní otázku. Záleží ovšem zároveň na porovnání s dalšími elaboráty, nakolik se liší či zda jsou vzájemně až příliš totožné.HIS VOICE

Pod szyldem Celer kryło się w początkowym okresie działalności tegoż projektu małżeństwo – Will Long i Danielle Baquet-Long. W ciągu czterech lat jego wspólnej aktywności muzycznej powstała niezliczona ilość płyt, na których para penetrowała z powodzeniem różne oblicza eksperymentalnego ambientu. Niestety – w czerwcu 2009 roku Danielle zmarła nagle na atak serca. Will nie zaprzestał jednak tworzenia – i przeprowadziwszy się z Kanady do Japonii opublikował do dzisiaj drugie tyle wydawnictw. W samym tylko 2012 roku ukazało się aż czternaście albumów firmowanych szyldem Celer.„Without Retrospect, The Morning” jest wśród nich wyjątkowy. Long zaczął zbierać materiał dźwiękowy, który nań trafił trzy lata temu, kiedy zimą pracował jako fotoreporter w kanadyjskiej południowej Albercie. Aura była wówczas niezwykła – często zdarzały się takie dni, że w ogóle nie widać było słońca za gęstej kurtyny opadającego śniegu, a mróz pokrywał swoimi rysunkami całe okna wynajętego domu, w którym mieszkał artysta. Long wziął ze sobą magnetofon z mikrofonem oraz kilka taśm wcześniej przygotowanych nagrań fortepianu i syntezatora. Dokonując terenowych rejestracji, miksował je na analogowym sprzęcie z przetworzonymi dźwiękami wspomnianych instrumentów. Potem wyjechał z Kanady – i dopiero dwa lata później przypomniał sobie o projekcie, dokonując jego ostatecznego miksu i masteringu w swoim nowym studiu w Tokio.
Materiał zamieszczony na „Without Retrospect, The Morning” podzielony został na na dwie części. Pierwszą tworzą krótkie utwory o impresjonistycznej urodzie, skoncentrowane na statycznych plamach przetworzonego szumu, niczym nasłuchiwane z ciepłego mieszkania dalekie smagnięcia lodowatego wiatru. To otwierający płytę „Holding Of Electronic Lifts”, a także późniejsze „A Small Rush Into Exile” czy „Variorum Of Hierophany”. Na drugi segment składają się majestatyczne kompozycje, bardziej rozbudowane, ukazujące kanadyjską zimę w pełnej krasie. Dziesięciominutowy „Dry And Disconsolate” owiewa nas chłodnym podmuchem świdrujących dźwięków, zza których wypływają oniryczne fale shoegaze`owych syntezatorów, podbite miarowo dudniącym dronem. Jeszcze bardziej minimalistyczny charakter mają „A Landscape Once Uniformly White” i „Distance And Mortality” – mrożąc słuchacza chmurnymi kaskadami monochromatycznych klawiszy. Pewne ocieplenie wprowadza dopiero „With Some Effort, The Sunset”, wnosząc w te lodowate dźwięki ledwo słyszalną melodię.
„Without Retrospect, The Morning” to arktyczny ambient w swej najbardziej radykalnej formie. Dlatego album Celera przypadnie do gustu przede wszystkim odbiorcom przyzwyczajonym do wymogów tego rodzaju estetyki. Ale takie potraktowanie muzycznej materii ma swój głęboki sens. Czyż właśnie nie w ten sposób wyobrażamy sobie podbiegunowe zimy na krańcach naszej planety?NOWAMUZYKA

Take a look at Celer’s discography and you won’t see a single disruption in an ongoing flow of creative output. Never mind the unfortunate events of 2009, which till this day can’t escape my concealed lips. If anything, the frequency of releases only increased, peaking at ten albums in 2011, most of which were self-released by Will Thomas Long. In 2012, however, Long managed to transgress his ambiance across a variety of highly respected and independent labels, including Low Point,Futuresequence, Constellation Tatsu, Experimedia, and now Glacial Movements Records.
For the latter Italian label, run and operated by Alessandro Tedeschi, Celer creates a minimal soundscape, tranquil in volume and tamely sublime. The hour-long journey, titled Without Retrospect, the Morning, is incredibly fitting for the arctic aesthetic of a wintry space. The icy sculptures of moving frequencies slowly travel along frozen lands. This music is placid, muted and cold. Tones, as gentle as sine waves, flow down the elongated ice spikes and instantly freeze. Images of desolate places with resonating winds groaning through hollows cover my mind, and I reach for a hot cup of tea to inhale the warm vapor. The album is actually a third and final part of the water-themed trilogy that Celer began with Cursory Asperses (Slow Flow Rec, 2008) and Escaping Lakes(Slow Flow Rec, 2009).
Having spent a few months in South Alberta, Canada, during the winter of 2009, Long used an “endless delay system between the two open reels” to record and layer the textures. The dubbed sounds of piano and synthesizer, while fed through an old pair of speakers, slowly began to decay. This decomposition was in turn processed again, adding contact microphone field recordings of ice, snow and wind. The final output stayed dormant for two more years, until Long brought the recordings, and memories, back into life.
“Some days the snow would be so heavy the sun would never show, and ice covered the windows in the mornings. The wind rushed up the banks of the nearby mountains, and whipped against the buildings. [...] The affects of the cold, the sudden sunsets through the snow, and the night winds still stay in my mind, like a soundtrack to those two months, not without their own songs of loneliness but with also beauty, sounds seeming like a siren, embracing every unchangeable and otherwise forgetful moment, even in the bitter winter.”
As I have already mentioned, Celer’s vast catalog spans months of continuous, uninterrupted listening. If you find yourself gravitating towards this type of glacial ambiance, I highly recommend you also pick up Engaged Touches (Home Normal, 2009), Capri (Humming Conch, 2009), Discourses Of The Withered (Infraction, 2008), Pockets of Wheat(Soundscaping, 2010), and Dying Star (Dragon’s Eye, 2010). And while exploring releases on Glacial Movements, I must suggest that you simply complete your collection of the entire catalog from this label – these are all truly wonderful gems!HEADPHONE COMMUT

Dove la morte apre ferite profonde la musica lenisce ed aiuta ad andare avanti. Quello che un tempo era un duo formato da due ragazzi giovanissimi come Will Long e Danielle Baquet-Long, marito e moglie, una passione smodata per la musica d'ambiente, la loro vita in fondo. Poi la tragedia, Danielle colta da insufficienza cardiaca, nel 2009.
Il lavoro di Will è andato avanti, perso tra flussi sonori calmi e descrittivi che ormai delineano con dovizia un profilo musicale adulto, una visione tanto rassegnata quanto rasserenata.
Questa volta è la Glacial Movements ad ospitare un suo lavoro, “Without Retrospect, The Morning”, un titolo che le note assegnano proprio a Danielle, forse un suo pensiero, o chissà...
Una musica specchio di un'anima chiusa, che lascia poche possibilità ad influenze esterne, una questione intima, personale, solitaria, come solo la solitudine può tirarti fuori certe vibrazioni.
Un album diviso in sette segmenti, ma in sostanza un unico flusso fatto di sentori flebili, variazioni tonali, umori che mai si lasciano andare a manovre eclatanti, ma che bensì tendono a preservare un'integrità progettuale e caratteriale che si ricollega poi agli esordi dei Celer. Perchè forse è bene continuare a considerarli come un duo. Come una musica che parla attraverso due diverse voci con una sola anima.
L'album è una sonorizzazione perfetta per lande sconfinate invase dalle nevi, per inverni lunghi nei quali riflettere, il suono è caratterizzato da sottili tappeti elettronici che fanno da base a field recordings notturni, onde e frequenze che si muovono con delicatezza, in un saliscendi mai soggetto a tensione ma anzi propedeutico al relax.
Se proprio possiamo notare un sussulto, questo avviene nel corso degli ultimi due brani in scaletta, dove i toni cambiano forma disegnando ancora paesaggi dai lunghi orizzonti ma questa volta fotografati alle prime luci in un'alba che regalerà una fredda mattina assolata. Non calore ma luce, una luce fredda che fa brillare i dettagli, riflettendosi sul ghiaccio e mostrando una nuova faccia che ha le sembianze della speranza.
La Glacial Movements continua ad essere in missione, seleziona e pubblica dei lavori che sposano alla perfezione un concept ormai rodato che si nutre della sua stessa materia, di un suono dal grande potere suggestivo, una musica che sa raccontare ciò che vede, non con gli occhi ma bensì con la mente e con il cuore. Una vera e propria lettura interiore tradotta in musica, ecco cosa rappresenta la Glacial Movements, ecco cosa Celer ha dato alle stampe, un disco di musica ambient personale, un ricordo, il suo ricordo.ELECTRONIQUE

Will Long has ruled the ambient genre since his connection with his wife Danielle Baquet-Long. Since then, he has been producing charismatic compositions with abstraction and music of the silence, cracked elements and detailed production. The seven tracks were created between 2001 – 2009 in California, Mississippi, Tokio or Canada and you can find all kinds of weather flurry – Nordic cold, mountain gales, Japanese earthquake, freezing sunshine and also a cracked Earth´s crust.
The sounds lay on each other in a deep dark and one speaks after another through minimalistic fading pictures or in a direct soundless silence. Here and there, the waters are stirred with piano disturbing the constant flow. Deep emotional parts are inspired by the project work of Yui Onoder, Corey Fuller, Mathieu Ruhlmann. The Ice Age is not over yet…FULL STARS

Though Celer's material is typically retiring in character, Without Retrospect, the Morning inhabits an even quieter space than usual. The volume level on one's stereo setup must be turned up for the music to be clearly heard (unless, that is, one prefers having the material fill the room as subliminal sonic tinting), or perhaps one is best to treat the recording as a true headphones listen where all of its nuances can be appreciated and absorbed.Celer is, of course, now a solo Will Long project, with his wife Danielle Baquet-Long (aka Chubby Wolf) having passed away from heart failure in 2009; her presence is felt, however, in the new release in the album's title, which is credited to her. The recording actually dates back to 2009 when Will, toiling in a short-term capacity as a photographer and surveyor in Alberta, Canada, generated the base material using two Sony Tapecorders and recordings made with synthesizer and piano (the album, incidentally, was conceived of as the final part of a water-themed trilogy, the others being the already issued Cursory Asperses and In Escaping Lakes). Applying an endless delay system to the recorders, he assembled the album's resultant pieces using cut-and-paste methods, and to complete the process subtly integrated field recordings gathered from the wintry setting; it's this latter detail, of course, that makes Without Retrospect, the Morning a natural fit for the Italy-based Glacial Movements Records. Post-production eventually occurred when Long revisited the tapes two years later at his Tokyo home base and prepared the album for release.The seven pieces are anything but violent, despite the fact that Will could hear the wind whipping against the snow-covered buildings during his Alberta stay. Instead, it's as if the frozen land is sleeping and everything has assumed an unearthly stillness. Long might have drawn upon contact microphone recordings of ice, snow, and wind and cracking and crunching sounds during the production process, but the end result is as pure and fragile as could be imagined when crystalline tones waver softly in the air, their organ-like glisten reduced to an ethereal essence. Most of the settings hum at a low and peaceful ebb, the exception being the penultimate piece, “The Tears of Tategami Iwa,” whose whistling tones, rumblings, and grainy atmospheres assert themselves with a great deal more urgency than the other pieces. But to a large degree, the recording is quintessential Celer, a soothing, fifty-two-minute collection tailor-made to induce a state of restful calm in the receptive listener.TEXTURA

Celer è il progetto di Will Long. Come avrete forse già avuto modo di leggere, lo condivideva assieme alla moglie Dani Baquet (Chubby Wolf), purtroppo scomparsa nel 2009 all’età di 27 anni. Without Retrospect, The Morning, origina sempre dal 2009, anno nel quale Will ha raccolto field recordings in Alberta e registrato su nastro suoni di synth e piano, con l’intenzione di chiudere una trilogia intorno all’elemento acqua, composta dagli album Cursory Asperses e In Escaping Lakes. Su questi suoni Will ha applicato soprattutto l’effetto delay, come sarà chiarissimo sin dal primo ascolto di questo album, sul quale ha trovato il modo di lavorare due anni dopo mentre era nella sua casa a Tokyo, città nella quale oggi vive.Si tratta di un’uscita Glacial Movements al cento per cento. Alcuni frangenti potranno ricordare Netherworld come altri dischi presenti sul catalogo, perché certo modo di usare il synth ed effettarlo è evidentemente connaturato a come un artista immagina coi suoni un paesaggio polare. Solo che qui è tutto portato all’estremo di rarefazione e fragilità, un’operazione che di certo non spiazza e non è innovativa, ma che è il marchio di fabbrica di Celer. Va detto che – paradossalmente – queste linee di synth che si consumano progressivamente, in epoca di disintegration loops e altra elettronica che fa dell’onirico e dell’imperfetto la sua cifra stilistica, rappresentano un po’ lo zeitgeist pur venendo in realtà da molto lontano (Thursday Afternoon di Eno, per dire?).
Celer è un progetto con una discografia molto corposa: questo “passaggio di evidenziatore” da parte di Glacial Movements potrebbe far fare una bella scoperta agli irriducibili italiani di queste sonorità.THE NEW NOISE

Celer to ambientowy projekt powstały w 2005 roku z inicjatywy małżeństwa Williama Thomasa Longa oraz Danielle Marie Baquet. Na swoim wydawniczym koncie Celer posiada całą masę płyt, mogę tylko przypuszczać, że pozostałe są również utrzymane w klimacie zimnego nordyckiego ambientu.
Ostateczny szlif zimnej niczym lód “Without Retrospect, The Morning”, William Long nadał w Japonii, gdzie przeprowadził się po śmierci żony. Glacial Movements, wydawca m.in takich tuzów jak Rapoon, Francisco Lopez czy Bvdub zdążył już nas przyzwyczaić do mrocznych i gęstych dark ambientów lejących się powolnym tempem z głośników. Tym razem, mamy do czynienia z totalnie lodowatym, surowym i dość minimalistycznym spojrzeniem na ambient. Album “Without Retrospect, The Morning” wyraźnie podzielono na dwie części. Pierwsza to wycieczka po kole podbiegunowym w otoczeniu wschodzącego słońca. Zimne klawiszowe pasaże ilustrują wietrzny i mało przyjemny klimat. Druga część to powoli następujący mrok. Zrodzony z delikatnych szumów, przepełniony izolacjonistcznym i sennym klimatem. Celer daje nam wyraźnie znać, że ta wypełniona chłodem oniryczna wyprawa dobiega końca.
Zatopiona w mglistym, odrealnionym klimacie muzyka Celera jest doskonałą ilustracją arktycznych krajobrazów. I choć może nie każdy lubi jak chłód zagląda do jego domu, warto dać się ponieść tej mistycznej podróży.
“Without Retrospect, the Morning” to z pewnością album nadający się idealnie do słuchania właśnie teraz, kiedy zimno puka w nasze okna. Szkoda tylko, że śniegu ma…SANTASANGRE

Celer has always been an artist who can effortlessly dream up evocative drones and a deep-thought style of ambient introspection. Always refreshing, always vividly alive and constantly absorbing into the very atmosphere, Will Long’s music touches upon phantom shades and faint degrees, almost to the point of aural invisibility. Without Retrospect, the Morning, is no different than that of Long’s multiple releases, in that it is ambient music of the highest caliber, and yet it is a departure, for it contains his coldest music to date.
Created in 2009 while Long was working as a photographer in South Alberta, Canada, Without Retrospect, the Morning is cold to the touch, and just slightly under a sub zero temperature, but the diluted light saves it from becoming an icy tundra of drone. The early morning – late sunset sound was primarily recorded using two Sony Tapecorder open reels, an endless delay system and contact microphones, resulting in an unrivaled organic purity and depth. The weak light, and the quiet still of Winter, can be seen reflecting off sharp, crystal drones, as light as a white-whispered cloud sent up into the cold air, and Long’s stark crystals of ice are lightly glazed with a smooth flowing current of ambient air. “A Small Rush Into Exile” glows an almost eerie colour against the rising sun, silently transforming as strands of notes slowly rise up and over the crystal.
These drones are like shards of ice that have broken off and become displaced, removed from an original, wider structure. Will Long has been active enough for long enough to have perfected his source and his sound, and the inner musical momentum within the seven tracks is just right. The music almost seems to pour from concealed cracks in the ice, creeping out of the recording process in thin, cool channels that are able to warm their cold blood in the sun. Sub bass frequencies deepen the tone, as if pulled under a flurry of powdered, soft snow; this is the beautiful contrast, the deeper shell of clinking ice and the ethereal air above it. For the most part, the arrival of the bass is non-intrusive, instead of influencing the warmer air and dragging it downwards. The pure transparency of the drones offer plenty of temperate warmth and help to subdue any rough daggers of ice that may remain, glowing defiantly in dynamic swells in beautiful contours. Raise the atmosphere, if not the temperature, and this is due to the dimmed volume throughout the record, which only rises an inch above the white.
A gorgeous cover complements the clarity of the music – seeing the cover art is enough to produce shivers down the spine. Long’s restrained technique helps to focus in on the miniscule, where the true alterations occur; it is inside the tone, and its constant change, that really separates ambient musicians, and turns the music into a true art-form. These seven pieces don’t stray far from their source – there isn’t enough energy inside – yet they are always allowed the capacity to evolve at their own pace if they should wish to do so. The music is without a companion; the only survivor amid a solitary stretch of snow and ice, awakening to the fragile light of dawn.
Finally, “With Some Effort, the Sunset” emerges, shining above all of the previous six tracks, as vapour rises and the light descends. A lower frequency is more prominent, perhaps as the force of the sunset, quietly cooling and returning to what has been, fading for another day.
Celer’s music is in plentiful suppy, but ambience as smooth and as thoughtful as this is very difficult to find. Once it is found, it’s a sound we should treasure, and it ensures that Without Retrospect, the Morning is a stand-out release in an amazing discography. A shushed drift, the drone is only a thin slice of ice, lit by the morning, cool in her departure and born again on her rising. (James Catchpole)A CLOSER LISTEN

Although not as indiscriminate as is denoted by the term, I am often a completist when it comes to collecting the works of selected authors and musicians. Yet, I would be hard-pressed, given his massive output of creative work, to even begin to collect all the music of Will Long in the guise of Celer. By now, I probably have a dozen or so of Celer’s recordings, but if I had to recommend one and only one recent work, it might just be this almost mystical and entrancing album. I’m also drawn to this release since it fulfills one of the most significant inspirations for why I listen to music—it takes me somewhere, and the images and sensations are vivid.
This is the third work in a trilogy based on water (to some, water symbolizes comfort and freedom). The two previous albums are Cursory Asperses (2008) and Escaping Lakes (2009)—the former alluding to the slow movements of small streams and the latter to the calmer depths. The music on this album being inspired in part by Will’s trip to southern Alberta in 2009 (documenting the wilderness in photographs for a local Park Service).
Without Retrospect, the Morning is different from the first two in the series in that it has distinct tracks (versus a continuous thread of sound) and it captures water (or the sense of it) in a different state—a chilled desolation, at times at the edge of an existence where the potential energy is stored and released ever so sparingly in a landscape yearning for Sun and warmth. It’s therefore appropriate that this album landed at the Glacial Movements record label, a self-proclaimed “glacial and isolationist ambient” label. I also appreciate that the recording has been mastered with a softness that retains the intricate clarity of the many layers of sound buried in the crystalline strata (to heck with the loudness wars!). There are also hidden sonic depths, and some passages might be felt before they are heard (as in Dry and Disconsolate).A lateral effect of this CD is that it triggers (for me) some pleasant, albeit quirky, sonic memories from long ago. I’m a fan of the original 1960s Star Trek. There was some great incidental music and ambient sounds used in that series that, to my ears, are recalled in a track like Distance and Mortality (see if you hear the resonance of the wind from the pilot episode, The Menagerie or the sound of the transporter beam).So find a quiet room, bundle-up, get comfortable, and explore stunning breadth of this vast hyperborean landscape. Just remember to turn the volume back down on your amplifier before you change the sources on your preamp or pop-in another CD.WAJOBU

The cold gets inside you. I’m not saying this to provide seasonally appropriate dressing tips; instead, I’m writing about the way that landscape and climate can begin to influence the art produced under certain conditions. On a trip to Reykjavik years ago, I noticed that paintings of mountains seemed to be their own genre in Icelandic art, to the point where more contemporary artists seemed to delight in tweaking the form, stacking unexpected objects into similar forms. Music is no different. Consider that feeling of insignificance one gets in the face of certain sprawling, frigid landscapes -- equal parts awe and dread. It’s something that the composer John Luther Adams, based in Alaska, often taps into; Loscil’s coast / range / arc had a similar trajectory. Given that Celer’s Without Retrospect, the Morning was recorded in icy landscapes in southern Alberta, Canada, you might have an inkling of what to expect.
The third part of a group of works focusing on water, Without Retrospect, the Morning often features a naturalistic quality. The seven pieces heard here never sound rushed, and their progression is stately. (I’d use “flowing,” but that seems a bit too metaphorically apt.) Much of the music is constructed from drones, some of them running in parallel, others keening out of an atmospheric mass. “Distance and Mortality” evokes the sight of light on the horizon, of a new morning -- though, given the title, it isn’t entirely clear if that light signifies a new day or the end of a life. “Dry and Disconsolate” slowly unfolds, brighter tones emerging from a more dissonant base. And “With Some Effort, the Sunset,” which closes the album, does so on an uncertain note, a hesitancy in the face of something overwhelming.
Without Retrospect, the Morning sits precariously between ambient work that unsettles and ambient work with more bliss-inducing ambitions. Its role as a kind of sonic meditation on certain qualities of a certain substance does hit a certain intellectual sweet spot, though listeners coming to it cold might not pick up on that. One could write for pages about that question of context -- if you’re encountering this album on, say, Celer’s Bandcamp page, which contains abundant information on its recording, your experience may be different. But regardless of how Without Retrospect, the Morning is experienced, its pensive qualities may well induce a similar mode in the listener.
By Tobias CarrollDUSTED MAGAZINE

In Scene Report, musicians from all over the globe fill us in on what’s going on sonically in their hometowns. This week, Celer gives the scoop on Tokyo, Japan. Celer’s latest album,Without Retrospect, The Morning, is out now.
Tokyo has an ever-changing evolution. Not only the music and artists change, but the entire method continually shifts. It’s easy to get stuck in your own scene and then think that nothing is happening outside of it, but visiting some new venues or realizing that none of the artists on the bills are familiar shows its speed. Yet, it’s common to see veteran musicians performing in totally different styles under new names, with a drum machine when they usually play guitar, or a punk vocalist turning to kosmische synth wave. Whenever trends seem to become noticeable, they seem to fade out just as quickly and turn into something new. I can’t ever follow it. You just have to see what you can and go with it.CMJ

The most striking characteristic of this album compared to Will Long's others is how hushed the material is. "A Small Rush Into Exile" never creeps above a whisper, making it necessary to listen in complete silence to perceive the floating melodies and delicate shimmers that exist.The hushed sound of "Dry and Disconsolate" hides glistening rising and falling tones, comfortably sparse and airy. The extremely distant hum of "Variorum of Hierophany" is reminiscent of Bernhard Günter in its approach, but even without a distinct melody it is less dry and clinical than his work, which continues as it blends into "A Landscape Once Uniformly White".
The two closing pieces are the only ones that have a more dynamic sound, not requiring a meditative approach to listening while still remaining understated. Long puts glassy organs up front on "Distance and Mortality," resonating and sustaining throughout the entire piece. It shifts, changes, and evolves frequently to stay fascinating. "With Some Effort, the Sunset" follows suit, with church bell like echoes leading off the 13 minute long piece. It is beautiful and delicate, with an icy but light and floating drift to it, fading in and out of focus.
Because of my own self-sustained abstinence from following Celer's exponentially growing discography too closely, I cannot speak as to how this work fits in with the most recent releases. On its own, Without Retrospect does stand out from the other albums I have heard with its quiet, faint nature. Rather than resembling other ambient projects, its extreme minimalism makes the soft tones and melodies that appear all the more powerful, resulting in a bare but beautiful snapshot of icy lands and frigid air.BRAINWASHED

Without Retrospect, The Morning" chiude una virtuale trilogia sull'elemento acqua, iniziata con "Cursory Asperses" nel 2008 e proseguita con "In Escaping Lakes" nel 2009, ma segna anche un altro tassello importante nella discografia della label di Alessandro Tedeschi, pienamente in linea con le tonalità fredde e naturalistiche che ormai da anni contraddistinguono le uscite della Glacial Movements. Celer ha alle spalle una lunghissima serie di uscite in una carriera breve ma intensa, messa in piedi da Will Long e da sua moglie Danielle Baquet-Long, purtroppo deceduta improvvisamente nel 2009, anno in cui il duo iniziava a raccogliere negli Stati Uniti (loro terra di provenienza) quelle prime field recordings che avrebbero poi dato vita a quest'album. Lo stile di Will Long, che ha portato avanti il progetto in forma solista, è astratto e minimale, fatto di accenni sonori che vengono prolungati all'infinito creando dei piccoli drones funzionali a dipingere paesaggi gelidi, panorami glaciali e una natura apparentemente ferma sotto una coltre di neve. I toni delle tastiere e del piano assumono la forma di linee infinite che si estendono senza sosta ripetendo lo stesso unico tema, un modus operandi semplice ma che sembra essere la via più efficace per tradurre in musica l'apparente immobilità della vita. Per la gran parte delle tracce i suoni risultano quasi impercettibili, fatto che rende necessario un ascolto in cuffia. L'intensità tonale aumenta soltanto con "Distance And Mortality", fortemente influenzata dall'elettronica degli anni '70 (da Brian Eno ai Pink Floyd) e strutturata come fosse un'enorme cattedrale di ghiaccio immersa in una luce pura. La ripetitività è il leit-motiv di un disco tutt'altro che sterile, capace di centrare l'obbiettivo con una tecnica a togliere, basata sulla sottrazione di elementi e movimenti sonori. L'esito è quanto meno confortevole: l'ambient fredda diventa un riparo, una nicchia sperduta che si apre nella mente dell'ascoltatore, creando orizzonti gelidi puliti e decisamente intensi. Come di norma eccezionale anche l'artwork firmato da Bjarne Riesto, che si sposa alla grande con la pace glaciale dei suoni.
Michele VialiDARK ROOM MAGAZINE

Gli ultimi anni sono stati decisamente pieni di impegni per Will Thomas Long, uno dei più importanti esponenti del ramo più vicino ai canoni “classici” della moderna ambient-drone. Dopo la serie di 7'' al fianco di Machinefabriek e il progetto Oh, Yoko – che lo vede collaborare con la “nuova” moglie Rie Mitsutake alias Miko – il musicista torna a rispolverare il marchio Celer, con il quale ha scritto pagine indelebili dell'ambient music contemporanea al fianco della compianta Danielle Baquet, e si affida nuovamente come già avvenuto in passato alle cure di Alessandro Tedeschi e della sua Glacial Movements.
Il brand italiano, ormai da anni protagonista indiscusso con il suo catalogo all'insegna dell'isolazionismo, torna dunque a mettere la firma su una produzione sopraffina: per quanto possa essere difficile selezionare nella discografia di un artista che da ormai una decade viaggia alla media di 5-6 dischi all'anno, “Without Retrospect, The Morning” è forse il miglior risultato del Celer solista assieme al precedente “Tightrope”. Un lavoro che riesce a fondere alla perfezione l'estetica isolazionista targata Gm (Netherworld e Stormloop su tutti) al calore proprio delle quiete trame di Long, puntando su una commistione di basse frequenze e textures quasi accennate.
Se il candore dell'iniziale “Holding Of Electronic Lifts” avvolge nei suoi accennati raggi di luce, il resto dell'album tende a giocare maggiormente con le ombre: “A Small Rush Into Exile” segna così l'immersione in un vuoto cosmico che i dieci minuti di “Dry And Disconsolate” esternano con parsimonia. Un clima plumbeo e notturno che raggiunge il suo picco nella fugace ma intensa “Variorum Of Hierophany”, per poi distendersi denso e quasi inudibile in “A Landscape Once Uniformly White”. L'alba di un nuovo giorno porta con sé in “Distance And Mortality” anche un improvviso innalzamento delle frequenze sonore, in un affresco desertico che sfuma progressivamente nel tramonto finale di “With Some Effort, The Sunset”.
Will Long nasce e cresce musicalmente in California, e “Without Retrospect, The Morning” ne è forse la testimonianza più chiara. Un disco vicino come mai prima alle lezioni impartite dai vari Steve Roach, Michael Stearns, Kevin Braheny e Tim Clark, dove l'ambientazione non è più l'arido deserto, bensì una gelida e sconfinata landa artica. L'ennesima prova del talento di un musicista che si conferma capace di descrivere con incredibile realismo le percezioni e le emozioni date da sguardi e immagini, riproducendo le stesse con perfezione cristallina.ONDAROCK

Celer, projet d’électronique ambiante de Will Long, est si clairement défini qu’il ne saurait nous réserver des surprises. Ainsi, c’est sans surprise que ce nouveau disque, Without Retrospect, the Morning, s’écoute tout en douceur, coule de source sans faire de vague et habite, simplement, l’espace sonore (qu’il s’agisse du salon ou de l’espace entre les deux bouts de votre casque d’écoute). Paysages sonores presque lisses, sereins, blancs, qui miroitent doucement. Nous sommes tout à fait dans la musique ambiante comme la conçoit Brian Eno, la musique d’appartement comme la concevait Erik Satie. Très agréable, même si sans surprise. Et tiens, je l’ai écouté le matin et j’écris cette chronique sans recul (“without retrospect”).
Celer, Will Long’s ambient electronica project, is so well defined that it leaves no room for surprises. So it is without surprise that this new record, Without Retrospect, the Morning, provides a quiet listen, delicately filling the listening space (be it your living room or the space between your headphones), not imposing itself in any way. Near-even soundscapes, serene, white, lightly shimmering. This is ambient music as Brian Eno sees it, apartment music as Erik Satie saw it. Quite enjoyable despite the lack of surprises. And you know what? I listened to it in the morning, and I’m writing this review without retrospect.MONSIEUR DELIRE

For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, I’ve been fascinated with ambient music ever since I first encountered Brian Eno in the early 1980s. But there’s “ambient” and there’s “seriously ambient,” and the output of the aptly-named Glacial Movements label typifies the latter: chords that float into view from a great distance, change shape like clouds for a few minutes, then recede again. In the case of Celer (a.k.a. Will Long), the clouds are particularly lovely and sometimes denser than they seem at first—but this is music for very specific tastes. Like mine.CDHOTLIST

Ambient chill music always aims to keep the sonic disturbances to a minimum, and frankly I like the stuff, but I can't really tell one band from another without cheating and looking at the computer screen. Celer takes this form of minimalism even farther. Not only is there a lack of identifiable notes, but you can barely hear the tracks without cranking up the volume. I've never had to put chill music up to 11 before, but after listening to a more rocking indie pop band I thought these tracks were blank.It's worth cranking them, though. While they won't wake the neighbors, the sound here rises and falls with a slight ringing sound, the sort of noise you get rubbing a finger around a wine glass. Track titles are enigmatic and rather pretentious, but fun in their own way: "Dry and Disconsolate," "A Landscape Once Uniformly White," and "With Some Effort, the Sunset" all drew a momentary eye-wrinkle. You have to be really, really into this sort of ultra-minimalism to enjoy this record, and I would compare this listening experience to driving though rural North Dakota, at night, on a two lane highway. There just ain't that much to look at.INK 19