Whale Song (Lona Records)
Wilson Tsang's latest outing mixes hazy sounds with lyrical piano passages, and is a beautiful collection of dreamy ambient music. The title reflects the artist's ambition: to strive for a musical language that is as ancient, mysterious and natural as the singing of a whale, a creature whose consciousness is believed to be built on sound rather sight.
Like a humpback whale, Tsang produces atmospheric and beautiful music that drifts in and out of your mind, leaving a subtle impact on your consciousness.
The soundscape he crafts is bleak, but the music is more dramatic and less earnestly monotonous than many ambient recordings as Tsang, trained in classical piano, remains first and foremost a melody-driven composer and performer.
Don't forget to go through Tsang's poems and a collection of artwork in the liner notes, which parallel and respond to his music.