AV's CD Focus

8 Shades of Sound 

Under the pseudonym ‘Igneous Flame’, I have released three critically acclaimed ambient albums, ‘Tolmon’ (2003), ‘Intox’ (2003) and ‘OXANA’ (2004). My ambient work was initially influenced primarily by Brian Eno’s ‘Thursday Afternoon’ ‘On Land’ and ‘Apollo’ albums. I also create surround sound soundtracks for gallery installations and have composed soundtracks for short films.

I live in Northern England and I’ve played guitar for 25 years. As part of my studies in Music Technology, I was introduced to electroacoustic music and I started experimenting with the practice of processing recorded sounds, which in turn, started me thinking about applying this way of working to creating ambient music. Some reviewers have referred to the ‘synth sounds’ on my releases, but I actually very rarely use synthesisers for my ambient work. Most of the sounds I create were originally recordings, heavily processed. It is all computer based. I also have a more beat based side project called ‘Formbank’. 

For AV's spotlight on 8 Shades of Sound by Formaria click here.

Artist Interviews

The first "new age" artist I discovered was Steve Roach in 1988 with his release "Dreamtime Return" which became a pivotal moment in my life. I looked at "new age" in a completely new light and not the cliche it had started to become. I realized that there is a substance and feeling invoked with new age instrumental music that most other genres can't connect with me.

Numina - AV Interview 

My process for recording music varies, but the key element that connects everything is to make the songs musically cohesive so that they work well together whether in sequence or as a whole, yet I want the album to be diverse enough to maintain attention and avoid monotony. I didn't go into any preconceived theme when I ended up with the tracks for Sanctuary of Dreams - with the exception of perhaps one or two songs which by that time I had most of the album tracks already assembled.

Numina - AV Interview

aka Jesse Sola