Tapes and Topographies

About the artist

Tapes and Topographies is the ambient project of Todd Gautreau. With a number of releases on his own label Simulacra, he has also recently released music on the Dronarivm, Past Inside the Present, Whitelabrecs, ROHS! and Shimmering Moods labels. REVIEWS: The album is awash in melancholy, a reflection of the cold, dark deep. The cover image and music bring to mind the scene in A.I. when David and Teddy become frozen and trapped at the bottom of the sea. With titles such as “A Year of Disappointments” and “Were It More Luminous”, the album seems a reflection of rumination. In “The Trouble With Dreams”, tape sounds squiggle across the sonic field, attempting to find bearing as the harbor chimes toll. Yet there is also solace in knowing that others are going through the same thing, struggling yet sinking. In another sense, to to fathom means to understand, and this album reaches for the soul with a consoling, empathetic hand. The music may be slow and sorrowful, but the eventual impression is one of comfort. – a closer listen ..another spellbinding set of melodic deconstructions entitled Fathoms. Fragments fashioned from piano, organ, & guitar are woven into a diaphanous textural fabric and then unfurled onto waves of warm, looping oscillations. Beautifully crafted and thoughtfully rendered, Gautreau offers the listener safe harbor at the edge of a deep and melancholic sea. – stationary travels