Pete Ardron - These Are Small, Those Are Far Away (2026) [Hi-Res]

Pete Ardron — London-based composer, producer, and DJ, head of the Pink Hampster label and studio, and the driving force behind Orchid-Star — releases These Are Small, Those Are Far Away in 2026 as the direct follow-up to his 2022 album Butterfly Tree.
Like its predecessor, the record is built around Ardron's three defining influences: psychedelia, world music, and classical — though the balance has subtly shifted. The overall mood remains downtempo, but the rhythmic tracks are noticeably more kinetic this time, and a deep dub texture runs throughout. Alongside meditative and contemplative pieces, the album makes room for the slightly jazzy "Dance of the Cupboard Spider" and the childlike lightness of "The Sparkly Adventures of Emerald Haze," written for Ardron's granddaughter.
The track titles map a geography rich in natural and cultural imagery: the Umshiang River in Meghalaya, India; London's Café Cairo (a longstanding Pink Hampster venue); the islands of Tenerife and Tangie; mangroves, flamingos, and the exotic Pseudobombax ellipticum tree. "Last Mango in Powys" plants a tropical image in a Welsh Celtic landscape — a characteristic Ardron move, placing unlikely cultural and climatic neighbours side by side. The title track, at 8:24 the album's longest piece, draws together these threads: its title is a deliberate play on perspective, collapsing the distance between the vast and the intimate.
Ardron has been part of London's alternative clubbing scene since the early 1980s — as a resident DJ at Whirl-Y-Gig, one of the city's most enduring club nights, and through Pink Hampster's Sunday chillout sessions at Café Cairo. Orchid-Star, formed in 2005 as a live vehicle for his DJ sets, brought together influences from Indian, Arabic, Celtic, and African traditions woven into psychedelic chill, dub, and funk. These Are Small, Those Are Far Away continues a solo discography stretching back to 1987, and represents another chapter in Ardron's quietly distinctive body of work.

Tracklist:
1-1 Pete Ardron - Bridge Over the Umshiang [5:36]
1-2 Pete Ardron - Quantum Enjanglement [4:46]
1-3 Pete Ardron - Mint Tea at Cafe Cairo [6:39]
1-4 Pete Ardron - Flamingo [4:40]
1-5 Pete Ardron - Dance of the Cupboard Spider [5:45]
1-6 Pete Ardron - Pseudobombax Ellipticum [6:00]
1-7 Pete Ardron - Mangrove Symmetry [5:08]
1-8 Pete Ardron - These Are Small, Those Are Far Away [8:24]
1-9 Pete Ardron - Last Mango in Powys [5:18]
1-10 Pete Ardron - The Sparkly Adventures of Emerald Haze [6:00]
1-11 Pete Ardron - When Teide Met Tangie [5:49]
1-12 Pete Ardron - The End of Nothing Yet [7:12]