Eric Hilton | “Sound Vagabond”

Montserrat EricHome Music and trip-hop pioneer Eric Hilton are excited to announce the discharge of Sound Vagabond, a 14-track travelogue by one of many godfathers of downtempo digital music. Having spent a long time merging numerous international genres right into a singular music imaginative and prescient, Sound Vagabond is maybe the last word iteration of this ethos — every monitor an audio image postcard of a spot, actual or imagined. “Some reminiscences of the locations I’ve been are very clear. Others are distant, nostalgic echos,” Hilton says of his newest showcase. “This file began modestly with some primary concepts, however after writing the primary eight tracks, I knew I had a travelogue.”

Available for pre-order, Hilton presents the singles “Midnight Milan,” “Closer” and “Poppy Fields” from Sound Vagabond within the type of three 7” coloured vinyl releases that characteristic an unreleased B-side on every.

The dynamic contrasts in Eric Hilton’s music make his newest full-length album, Sound Vagabond, a rewarding pay attention, with muscular, rhythmic grooves propelling elegantly crafted sonic landscapes. Hilton’s hybridization of music influences and experiences is nowhere extra evident than the album’s title monitor. "Sound Vagabond" locks right into a classic trip-hop groove, whereas flutes and Northern African flavors drift out and in. It’s troublesome to determine a selected geographic or ethnological fingerprint of those sounds — and the others on the album — as a result of all the pieces Hilton assimilates goes by means of his “filter" and comes out as his personal factor.

The locations on this sonic travelogue are numerous. “Cerro Allegre” was impressed by Hilton’s go to to Valparaíso, Chile, a metropolis he likens to a Latin San Francisco with gorgeous vistas. “The Violet Hour” is a breathy, Stan Getz meets space-age bachelor pad jaunt that remembers a particular Chicago cocktail bar. "Mumbai Hustle” is reconstituted Bollywood by means of Detroit — powerful however enjoyable, like a membership the place you should know the key password to get in. “Petra” breathes haunted echoes of Jordan by means of the audio system, whereas “Endless Affair” and “Poppy Fields” have Nineteen Sixties cinematic overtones.

And whereas each journey enriches the traveler, time spent on unfamiliar floor typically brings self-reflection. Hilton explores these themes on two of the file’s strongest tracks (“The Mirror Inside” and “The Grand Intro”). “Those two songs are extra self-focused than the remainder of the album,” he says. “‘The Mirror Inside’ is concerning the feeling of making a special vibrational expertise, turning issues again on your self, which may be very a lot the place I’m when making a file on my own. ‘The Grand Intro’ is tongue-in-cheek – it’s the sort of track I’d prefer to be taking part in once I enter a room; it’s received swagger and élan, nevertheless it’s additionally laid again.”

Hilton, who has used sampling in his music because the early days of Thievery Corporation, didn’t go digging into crates to create crunchy, 12-bit vinyl samples for this file, however as an alternative turned to public area pattern libraries. “This file is sort of a sound collage, with 60% samples and 40% reside devices. Sampling off outdated vinyl records is nice, however there are apparent licensing and clearance complications. Public pattern libraries are a implausible useful resource; you dig by means of a whole lot of hilarious rubbish, however I’m astounded by the nuggets you will discover. You can discover particular devices in any given key, after which the problem is chopping them up, recontextualizing and integrating them with the monitor you’re making.”

The finish result’s music the place the samples don’t name consideration to themselves or distract from the rigorously curated temper in any manner. Sound Vagabond’s nearer, “Lumi,” looks like the start of a protracted journey dwelling, and is an ideal method to shut out the album. Get your musical passport stamped.

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March 5, 2024 at 05:13PM