Leimer, K.

K. Leimer has composed a companion suite of vertical, low-level music for active or passive listening by revisiting and updating the techniques he used for composing Music for Land and Water.

An ambient genre exercise, Music for the Open Air is not satisfied to act as aural wallpaper. The tracks present the listener with an evolving set of discrete parts, interacting at different levels and times. Sound that is immersed in detail and depth –– shaped by an overall airiness and shaded by cycles of emerging and retreating subtleties.

The pieces range in duration from 21 to 38 minutes, making them ideal for ambient use in public spaces, or random shuffling wherever sheer, organized sound is useful. While Open Air is an easy and comfortable fit for the broad ambient genre, the material doesn’t employ new age gloss and never descends to simpleminded prettiness. Within its clouds and folds the sound reveals rich veins of graininess, distortion, and dissonances that impart a gravity most ambient works lack.