Wil Bolton - Kochi (2019)

‘Kochi’ is an immersive, heavily textured ambient album inspired by memories of the Arabian Sea. The four lengthy tracks are all centred around field recordings of Fort Kochi beach in Kochi, a port city in Kerala, South India. The character of the environment is captured in the sounds of lapping waves, birdsong and crow calls, the buzz of fishermen, traders and locals walking in the sand.

These sounds are layered with Indian cowbells and elephant bells, and hypnotic, evolving drones created with a shruti box, melodica and Moog semi-modular analogue synthesizer.

Glockenspiel and electric guitar played through a swathe of effects pedals add hypnotic, looping melodic textures and soft, glowing tonal patterns.