Tag: Zenapolæ

Blurred Horizon – new Venus Vulture Album out now.

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

I have a new ambient album out now on the Zenapolae netlabel.

In between writing and more writing, I do find a little time to tinker with my modular rack and little bits and pieces of software and work up some electronic music.

Blurred Horizon garners some of its inspiration from time spent on Naoshima Island in Japan – the cover photograph was taken from the shore there. Coincidentally (or not), just along the road from where I took the photo, lies the Benesse House Museum, a wonderful gallery, which, at the time we were there, had a series of seascapes photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto, which may bear some similarity to this photography. Sugimoto’s “Boden Sea” photograph appeared on the cover Richard Chartier and Taylor Deupree’s album Specification.Fifteen and later on the cover of U2’s No Line On The Horizon. Sugimoto’s photograph was taken elsewhere… Lake Constance, I believe.

Blurred Horizon is composed of fragments and loops. Plenty of slowly evolving drones. As I usually mention when I have new music out, this is music to write to. When I was starting out as a writer, I loved having soft ambient music in the background, but it was difficult in those days to find new music, so I found myself experimenting and making my own. Times have changed, and there’s more ambient around than I could really get a chance to listen to… and still I find myself taking a break from writing and making some more.

The album is a free download from Zenapolae. Enjoy.

Music For Writing

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

I have a new ambient album out on the Zenapolae netlabel. Distant Skies by Venus Vulture. Available for free download here.

Four drifty, droney background tracks, an hour of music to slide away on. Like the old definition I’m always striving for: interesting enough to be engaging, discreet enough to be ignored. Brian Eno, I think, said that.

I took the cover photograph of three vultures during my last trip through Okalhoma. Vultures seem appropriate, given my band name, right? I’ll be over in OK again later this year, visiting friends and family, finding more inspiration, and likely taking more photos.

I’ve mentioned before, but it’s always worth stating; many years ago, as a writer, I loved having some soft ambient music playing while I wrote. But in those days, it was tricky to find, especially here in New Zealand. So I fooled around with making my own. Nowadays, given the pesky internet with its netlabels (like Zenapolae), and streaming services, there’s plenty of ambient music around. I own and stream way too much. But I still have fun making it for myself, and it’s cool to put it out there this way.

Thanks for listening.

Also, since I talked about writing, here’s a link to a free downloadable short story on my website. Brickworks. Use the code “DistantSkies” (no gap) at checkout to get the discount of 100% off. Valid at least through to the end of 2025. Thanks for reading.

Two new Venus Vulture releases

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

When taking breaks from tickling away at a Qwerty keyboard, I sometimes noodle around with music. It’s always fun to activate different parts of my brain and still be creative.

First up is “Coiled Within Mountains“, released on Zenapolae.

Four ambient tracks filled with drifty loops and occasional snatches of melody.

Free download.

The second release, direct through bandcamp, is Salt.

Six ambient tracks filled with drifty loops and occasional snatches of melody.

Free to listen to on bandcamp, $US4- to buy the download.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ecosystem 8 – new Venus Vulture album out on Zenapolae

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

New release – Zen240 – Venus Vulture – Ecosystem 8

Mostly here I’m talking about my writing – after all that’s my main focus. In the background, though, I’m an amateur electronic musician (good to have hobbies, right?). I record and release under the ‘band’ name Venus Vulture. Ambient electronica. I’ve written elsewhere about coming to make ambient music – enjoying listening to it while writing, but having trouble finding it… that’s changed with the advent of the internet, but in the meantime, I found I enjoyed it, so kept making music.

Some of my albums appear on my bandcamp page. Some have come out on netlabels (Resting Bell, Testtube, Zenapolae), and I collaborate with Kendall of December Nightskies as an actual band – Shadows on the Snow, and we have a bunch of releases both independently and on netlabels.

My thanks to arnd from Zenapolae for his patience and back and forth with me while I put together this release. I like his description – “a delicate ambience made with modular synthesis”. That’s what I’m aiming for – delicate ambience.

I’ll write again about the ‘modular synthesis’ side of it – a shift over the last couple of years from computer-based composition to building a modular synth rig. arnd’s put an image of my rig there on the release page.

Ecosystem 8 is free to download.