Aaron Holm is a Seattle-based producer and musician writing and performing experimental ambient and electronic compositions. His fascination with ambient came during 1996 travels throughout Southeast Asia, where he listened to tapes of Future Sound of London, Scorn, and Shinjuku Thief while riding on trucks and longboats in Vietnam and Laos. Upon returning to Toronto, he put together his first electronic music studio in a warehouse above a furrier in Chinatown. The Boy is his latest album...

Fans of ambient music will find plenty to enjoy with Aaron Holm's new album, The Boy. It's no surprise to learn that he was deeply influenced by ambient and electronic pioneers such as Brian Eno, Future Sound of London, Richie Hawtin, Aphex Twin, Bjork, Massive Attack, and Loscil.

The LP kicks off with 'Water', a slow introduction to Holm's world. It's a beautiful, subtle ambient offering, with a hint of the ocean. This is followed by 'Little One' which explores the emotional push and pull of abandonment - with the female voice designed to represent the ocean.

'Catch a Falling Star' sounds rather dull and pointless... that is until you know the background to the track. It's designed as a tribute to the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. Holm's reveals that on the morning of the shooting, his daughter’s first grade teacher sent out a recording of the children singing ‘Catch A Falling Star’, and as those children were the same age as those killed, Holm's found it a moving tribute to the loss of innocence.

The album contains 7 tracks (36 min, 29 sec) of beautiful, modern ambient music. If this doesn't chill you out, after a stressful day, nothing will.

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Nick Smithson