



Perhaps better known as one half of the Danish duo Lauge and Baba Gnohm, Lauge ( Henrik Laugesen ) recently released his second solo album, Pusterum, as a self released issue on Bandcamp.





Pusterum translates from Danish as "respite" in English which is a perfectly apt name for such a harmonious, relaxing album. When I asked Henrik about the intent behind the album he said that it was created specifically to help his girlfriend sleep. She had been suffering from Insomnia and they noticed ambient music helped her to relax and get to sleep easier.





So an entire album was crafted of beautiful ambient landscapes to help induce a restful nights sleep. What a nice thing to do ! And now we can all benefit from Henrik's endeavors too. I can certainly attest to its sleep inducing powers. Turn off the lights, put this album on and drift away, wrapped in clouds of soft ambient light .









I began writing a review of individual tracks for this album but gave up towards the end as it's not that kind of album. It's a album where all the tracks combine into a single ambient journey. That is not to say there aren't any standout tracks because there are. However this is like a finely balanced work of art that is best appreciated in quiet contemplation.

Overall you will hear plenty of deep reverberated drone beds layered with subtle warm hisses, cinematic risers, decaying ambient scrapes and the minutest of glitchy effects. Occasionally delayed piano stabs drop markers over the ambient grid giving some of the tracks more assured navigation.





This is an album to be enjoyed from start to finish, should you still be awake by then. When done right, as done here, ambient music can transport the listener into a another world. It's hypnotic beauty conjures up images of deep space, ice forming on glass, golden fields of sunlight, a single bird flying high in the sky above, light reflecting off waves, glacial drift and the fading of stars and the birth of silence.





Perhaps it's single most remarkable effect is the way it gradually lulls you into a self reflective mood. You start to wonder, what was I doing ? I was busy. I'm not busy anymore but that's okay. Actually that's better than okay. It feels perfectly right in this moment. Nothing can bother me now.





Henrik displays a mature understanding of the essence of meditative sound here. This album could act as the launch pad into a career of an ambient supreme being.





This is a superb ambient album that works perfectly as a sleep inducing spell. Ambient nursery rhymes for adults. If you like your music beat-less, self reflective and hypnotic then look no further.









You might also like the following mixes featuring Lauge and Baba Gnohm:











