Audiopile Review: Like Oren Ambarchi, Lawrence English emerged from Australia in the early 2000s producing edgy takes on post-Fennesz ambient music. The similarities don’t end there. They’ve both recorded for Touch, they both run phenomenal experimental music labels (Black Truffle and Room 40), and they both have large back catalogues of consistently excellent music. But where English has mainly stayed in his lane, Ambarchi has boosted his profile and produced some of his best work by tapping extensive all-star casts of collaborators. ‘Even the Horizon Knows its Bounds’ sees English pull into the fast lane for a big-band blowout of his own. He even calls on some of Ambarchi’s regular collaborators, including Chris Abrahams from The Necks and Jim O’Rourke. We’re also treated to appearances from Norman Westberg, Stephen Vitiello, and store favourite Claire Rousay. Having heard the results, we feel bad about having made this all about comparing Lawrence English to a fellow Australian experimentalist, or really anyone else. Because ‘Even the Horizon…’ is a totally coherent statement that is every bit a Lawrence English record. It’s a 45-minute, eight-part ambient epic that sustains a stormily dramatic mood throughout. The celebrity guests just give English a wider-than-ever palette of sounds to draw from. This is a major work. The sound of a veteran artist coming into their own.

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From Lawrence English: “I like to think that sound haunts architecture. It’s one of the truly magical interactions afforded by sound’s immateriality. It’s also something that has captivated us from the earliest times. It’s not difficult to imagine the exhilaration of our early ancestors calling to one another in the dark cathedral like caves which held wonder, and security, for them. Today the ways in which sound occupies space, the so-called liquid architecture, holds just as much wonder, albeit one that is often dominated by functionality and form. Beyond those constraints however, how sound operates in the material world is something that exists at the fundament of our understanding of music, and moreover within the broad church we know as the canon of sound arts. Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds is a record born out of these relations. In a direct sense, the record is the product of an invitation by curator Jonathan Wilson to create a sound environment, reflecting on the Naala Badu building at the Art Gallery Of NSW. The building’s name, which translates from the Gadigal language to ‘seeing water’, was opened in 2022 and this piece was offered as an atmospheric tint to visitors walking through the building throughout the year following its opening. It’s also a record born out of a recognition for the porousness sound affords, especially as a device for collaborative endeavor. This composition is one born out of generosity and acoustic solidarity. Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds is comprised not just of my sounds, but also that of an incredible array of artists who have also operated in the orbit of the Art Gallery Of NSW. The players include Amby Downs, Chris Abrahams, Chuck Johnson, Claire Rousay, Dean Hurley, Jim O’Rourke, JW Paton, Madeleine Cocolas, Norman Westberg, Stephen Vitiello, and Vanessa Tomlinson. The piece was constructed around two long form sound prompts that each musician responded and con-tributed to. These materials there when digested into the final piece you hear. The work could not exist without the substantial offerings these artists made, and I am immensely grateful to each of them.”