Apparently we live in a world where such a thing as “post-ambient” exists, according to one citizen’s review of Shifts via his Bandcamp profile. And you know, I don’t know if I really want to live in a world where such a thing exists. Or, at least I don’t want to recognize that it does. Too much thinking, too much trying to figure it all out. Even sitting here right now, deciding what words to use to describe Shifts — what adjectives are there, what genres or styles do we hear… I don’t want to fuck with any of that. What I want to do is listen to Shifts and just not worry about it. And I don’t think that Shifts really wants me to worry about it either. All Shifts cares about is taking you through its contours. Hoisting you up its peaks. Dropping you into the center of a cloud from the heavens. Washing you clean. It wants to show you its detail, and it wants you to feel its texture. Explore its color thoroughly and bask in the hot glow of an ambiguous mood. And Shifts is just grand enough to do it. You’ll hear Krzysztof Sujata plunk some melodies out of a piano in a minor key, only to leave trails of sustained note clusters behind, and a guitar (or a few of them, more than likely) swoop and swell up in a thunderous drone. On a track by track basis, it’s all enough to prick the hairs on your arms to life, and when it’s all said and done, that’s just about all there is that matters. Valiska is post-ambient? Sure. It’s also post-this review. So over me writing about it, and so into you getting lost in it. So go do that and leave me alone, please.
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