It's been a while since I heard from Hollydrift, but just as the year is about to turn, Wisconsin-based solo artist Mathias Anderson slips in his latest musical effort, one that departs from his previous style to evolve into and move towards a more lit up dimension made of quiet and intimate sounds and surroundings.

The "Tochter" (german for daughter) EP spills and sprinkles shades of light on rays of darkness, achieving a balanced and relaxed environment made of swooshing ethereal layers of panning atmospheric wind-like noises, field recordings of an old textile machine and probably of much other foggy Wisconsin ambiance, tamed and distant non-abrasive and non-intrusive feedback-type sounds, even a spacey synthesizer sound and a tiny hint to a drum machine... All this is surrounded and supported by shy but deep drones that signify the relation to his sonic past and maintain the connection with it alive, establishing it on a sub-liminal/-harmonic level.

The emphasis is on space, and although there isn't much of that between one sound and the next (only because they overlap each other in a complementary ambient-type setting) the impression of it is kept present throughout and an aural vision of that space is perceived by the listener, compliments of the subtle, toned down atmospheres that Hollydrift creates. The therapeutic and mellow soundscapes that are being drawn are as organic and as beautiful as the cover art work is. Mathias has hand-crafted three versions of a gorgeous old-looking sleeve made of rough brown recycled cardboard paper with hand-stamped ink lettering and a piece of 100-year-old pattern cloth attached to it. Each cover has been tea dyed for over a week and then dried in the Lake Michigan fog (Staalplaat used to put out such uniquely presented releases).

Another very interesting idea around "Tochter" is that the artist will mail a free copy to anyone that agrees to send him a snail-mail letter telling him about the town they live in. This lost (or almost lost) type of mail-based collaboration, a variation of which has often been referred to as mail-art, is what he is relating and referring to. Interestingly this is the second mail-art-related release that I review today (or in this decade, for that matter), so I guess, even though email took over, this collaborative-art spirit hasn't gone completely lost yet and some people are going back to basics.
This desire to hear about other people's living situations might just be early symptoms of reclusive mid-western isolationism (Mathias, are you telling us you want to move to a big city sometimes soon? it's ok, you know!) or maybe he's just ahead of the curve and is re-processing some of the leftist philosophies often attached to mail art and the early days of the artistic and political movements it was part of.

Either way, here you have the chance to escape the greed-based supplier/consumer chain and obtain a copy of this beautiful CD for free, just by writing a letter about where you iive and mailing it to the middle of nowhere, in effect contributing to the art and thought-process that lead to this melancholic and personal release. Be a participant. And look out for his next full length release on MannequinOddioMedia.com.