Slow Exit

A 6 track ambient ep (23m 58s) — released July 14th 2014 on Offshoot

Letters of Utrecht began in 2012 as the solo project of P A Buchanan, originally from Northern Ireland and now based in Brisbane. Buchanan previously played bass in more "traditional" rock band line-ups, and only really started writing and recording his own work a few years ago. He has become increasingly interested in ambient, drone & soundscapery over the last five years. Letters of Utrecht is an attempt to do something outside his comfort zone - rather than recording an album of fourth-rate Metallica-esque rip-offs (of which some demos do exist!).

Slow Exit was largely composed & recorded on laptop between July 2013 & March 2014. As with most of his work, this EP has been constructed using a range of VSTs & manipulated found sounds (both effects captured by mic & any public domain loops found on the 'net). There are also additional bursts of live bass & guitar throughout.With grounding in rock, metal, ambient, drone, soundtracks & electronica, Buchanan's musical influences are many - from eclectic acts from Faith No More to Aphex Twin, to key labels such as Warp, Ghost Box and Ninja Tune.

P A Buchanan is a huge film fan and that permeates much of his work - evident in the Film Noir cover art for Slow Exit. The half-remembered, rose-tinted smear of nostalgia looms large, with tracks sometimes evoking decades-old TV themes, dusty vinyl and tape, ramshackle movie soundtracks and so on. He tends to work in a semi-improvised fashion. There will be an initial idea for the sort of "feel" he'd like to achieve but from basic beginnings such as a short loop, beat or drone, more layers are added gradually.Only a handful of takes are performed to refine each part just enough - hopefully creating an air of spontaneity & maintaining some vital human edges.

the six tracks collected on this EP for Offshoot ‘Slow Exit’ see Buchanan crafting dark drone-based ambience that leans towards ominously filmic elements, and often approaches an almost isolationist sense of forbidding coldness. - http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Chris Downton

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