Wellington electronic composer Ludus (Emma Bernard) released the wonderful trance album “Two of the Same” in 2021, a favourite in PopLib HQ ever since. Looking to see if there were any more recent releases this Ludus remix of a Sonya Waters ambient tune “Spring Tide” popped up, which was a chance way to discover her equally wonderful album “The Sheltering Ranges” also released in 2021:

There’s not many people with “fired from the Woodentops on the advice of producer Lee “Scratch” Perry” on their musical CV but Waters is better known for her part in NZ bands Fang and Black Swan White Swan (both with Ben Howe of Superette) and forming avoid!avoid with half of The Sublimals.

“The Sheltering Ranges” is an ambient album mixing synths with field recordings and voices. It’s not the usual ambient album, possessing a somewhat Kosmiche Musik sense of motorik propulsion at times, and also weaving in vocals, in the process creating what is essentially ambient pop music like “Spring Tide” here. The Ludus remix re-assembles some elements in different way and gives the tune more rhythmic structure. I love both versions, so here’s the original version as well to compare yourself: