VA - Salutations (2021)

Lovely selection of glowing, slow burn electronic handicrafts by Visible Cloaks, Sign Libra, Batu, Dialect, Wayne Phoenix, amid other, promising new names to the RVNG fold

Sweeping their curatorial butterfly net far and wide, ‘Salutations’ crosses continents in search of meditative gems from a fine cross section of ambient-pop related electronica styles. A clear-eyed standout comes from Sign Libra with the crystalline kiss of ‘Pi’ following in the model of her ‘Sea To Sea’ album, and Wayne Phoenix’s ‘Living is the answer to the question that is asked by being alive’ features chants by Cocoa Tea poised in glorious sort of mutant electro-dub ambient roil that should appeal to Space Afrika fanatics.

RVNG’s new signees Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith tease out the lustrous landscape of ‘In The Memory Room’, and Anna Homler (Breadwoman) brings her quietly possessed mystic air to the sepia-toned atmosphere of ’Bounding / Missive from the Teacup Galaxy’, with Visible Cloaks found particularly sombre on ‘Arcoíris.’ Batu is also unusually glum and beatless on the sci-fi cinematic melodrama of ‘Face of the Lake’, and we can trust Dialect to keep it charmingly wayward with frothed voices and airy ambient chamber jazz strokes in ‘BeeOh’ that comes off like Visible Cloaks on a sunnier day.