Slowly Arranged: 2016-2019

Pressed on white vinyl. Out 17.8.2022 is the first-time vinyl pressing of the four ambient-leaning/adjacent records made by William Doyle between 2016 and 2019. The evidence provided by the full set suggests an extremely fertile period for Doyle: four records in four years, each in service to a specific concept, all impressively ambitious, and, perhaps most notably, a deviation from his prior work
Why he chose to forgo vocal-led songwriting and explore mostly wordless arrangements is perhaps explained best by the first album, the dream derealised, a deeply personal nine-song set addressing mental health challenges that feels both stark and redemptive. How do you express the inexpressible? There are some traces of his past work evident here, but it’s mostly an instrumental record that tries to find the human touch in mechanised sequences, an apt reflection of derealisation itself i’d suggest. Lightnesses I and II extend out even further into the previously unknown for Doyle, consisting of four equally lengthy compositions of sustained piano, drones and subtly glitching electronics, like-minded travellers in the late 90s orbit of Mille Plateaux/Oval et al
The final disc, Near Future Residence, is perhaps the most high-minded of the set; the soundtrack for an ecologically sustainable housing development somewhere in a not-too-distant future Britain. Though the concept seems inline with Japanese environmental music, the result itself feels more obviously tied to Berlin School electronics and late 20th century European ambient music. Most importantly, it’s a wonderfully realised narrative based on an equally beautiful utopian ideal, and once again does what Doyle does best by putting the human at the centre of his work. In that sense, perhaps it’s not so much of a departure from his other records after all