From their respective home studios separated by the Atlantic Ocean, Ben McElroy (U.K.) and A Spot on the Hill (U.S.) have created an enchanting album that blends folk, ambient, neoclassical minimalism and drone.

It started in December 2021 with a message from A Spot on the Hill’s Dan Cook to Ben McElroy proposing a collaboration. By the start of 2022, the two were trading recordings of drones, strings and piano. Ben would take a simple piano part from Dan and improvise multiple layers of cello, violin, viola and clarinet parts to accompany it, as well as adding mysterious drones and found sounds. Dan would sift through the accreted layers of sound, chiseling away at some so as to reveal the beauty of others. Then, back to Ben, who masterfully sculpted the evolving pieces into cohesive artistic statements.