"Mossed Capable Of Being Observant is an exploration of sound and land that resonates deeply with a label that primarily carries ecological ethos too. Throughout the album there is a palpable sense of non-linear time, creating an environment where listeners can connect intimately with Angel R’s artistic intentions."
Angel R, the new moniker from Florian TM Zeisig, first emerged in the hauntingly beautiful collaboration “Selkie Reflections” with Alliyah Enyo. This project showcased Zeisig’s ability to transmute archival material into ethereal vocal drones. While Enyo’s side of the split album transformed two-hour tape loop compositions into layered vocal incantations, Angel R’s contribution of warped fragile vocals into angelic textures, created an eerie juxtaposition that evoked divine presence within mortal sounds. The resulting choral drone compositions provide a promising glimpse into the thematic depth and creative potential of Angel R’s alias, setting the stage for what was to come.
To learn more about the makings of “Mossed Capable Of Being Observant“, I had the pleasure to speak with Florian about Angel R, which he describes it as “a more intuitive and softer channel”. You get to explore more facets of the artist’s dimensions, as Florian describes it “whenever connecting/engaging with music or sound. It is a way to highlight and experience other aspects of my journey.”
Florian TM Zeisig’s oeuvre has an intellectual approach to sound art, each release follows a philosophical treatise on the nature of audio, materiality, and our relationship to both immediate and imagined landscapes. His work with Yo van Lenz under OCA, particularly on “Preset Music,” repurposes YouTube synthesizer demos, transforming mundane preset showcases into unexpectedly poignant compositions.
This conceptual sleight of hand forces us to reconsider the very essence of musical creation. It plays with questions, such as, is showing of any chord and note just a mere presentation of the instrument itself or a composition in itself. Meanwhile, “Aging” by OCA on Métron Records serves as a temporal prism, refracting Zeisig’s personal experiences into a universal meditation on the passage of time, inviting listeners to confront the weight of their own fleeting moments. It particularly urged me to be moved by my own infinitesimal moments in life.
Earlier in 2024, Florian’s prowess as a sound artist shone further with “Planet Inc,” a work that ingeniously samples from “Space Night,” a cult 1994 German TV show that paired celestial imagery with chilled music. The samples were weaved tactile ambient into the sounds of dub techno demonstrates high-levels of creative recontextualization, transforming nostalgic late-night television into a cutting-edge ambient experience. Also released in 2024 was the collaborative effort “Bong Boat” together with Jordan Juras (as NUG), which presented the works of samples of Bavarian wilderness into an eerie dub-ambient with profound decompositions of everyday aural experiences.
“Mossed Capable Of Being Observant” released on enmossed, is an exploration of sound and land that resonates deeply with a label that primarily carries ecological ethos too. Throughout the album there is a palpable sense of non-linear time, creating an environment where listeners can connect intimately with Angel R’s artistic intentions.
The album opens with “Together,” enveloping listeners in muted pads that gradually transform into looped cymbal-like hi-hats and samples. In this track, the textural loop functions as an instrument in its own right. As the track unfolds, a powerful sense of resolution builds, culminating in uplifting elements that guide the textural loop to a therapeutic conclusion, allowing listeners to release the emotions stirred throughout the song.
In “Dreams,” Angel R conjures an abundance of peace, blending samples reminiscent of rustling leaves or gentle waves with looping synths and syncopated dub-adjacent percussions. This track creates a liminal space that bridges the tranquility of immediate surroundings with the imaginary landscapes contained within the listener’s soul. The non-linear approach to light drums adds to its ethereal quality.
“Starting To Remember” shifts the mood with a more pronounced emotional tension, inviting reflections on one’s state of mind and space. This track echoes themes from “Provider II,” featuring PVAS, and enhances the album’s introspective journey.
The album is further enriched by accompanying recycled hemp paper insert adorned with silkscreened poetry that deepens the album’s immersive qualities. The verse “each soul is a land” captures the non-discriminatory complexity within every individual, inviting listeners to explore their inner worlds. Florian elaborates on this concept, stating, “It’s meant to invoke your own interest in the other’s experience rather than thinking/demanding that ‘your’ world/land is the only and correct one. It’s about acknowledging the manifoldness and incomprehensible plethora of life and its expressions.”
This poetic dimension adds the much-needed nuances to the calm ambient typically evokes, encouraging listeners to dissipate their thoughts and merge within their meditative introspective selves. The words “musings of sand” explores themes of humanity’s preservation through its connection to the land, suggesting a unity between human experience, sound, and environment. This interplay of poetry and ambient resonates in meanings that carries a subtle undercurrent of otherworldly abundance, eschewing the forced melancholia often associated with contemporary ambient genres.
At times reserved, at other moments boldly declarative, “Mossed Capable Of Being Observant” traverses a complex emotional spectrum that enables softness to permeate the intentions behind Angel R.
‘Mossed Capable Of Being Observant’ is out now via enmossed. Order a vinyl copy from Inverted Audio Record Store and digital from Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
1. Together
2. Dreams
3. Starting To Remember
4. Birdie II
5. Provider II (feat. PVAS)
