Ambient: D York - Posada De La Virgen (2024)

74 / 100

Posada De La Virgen offering a rain-soaked ambient experience that’s easy to sink into even if it doesn’t fully transcend its own formula.

After Bålsam, I moved on to another artist under the Neotantra label, D York. If Bålsam is still in Minnesota, then we have to head southeast to meet D York in North Carolina. This time I’m starting with a single-length release running for 53 minutes, titled Posada De La Virgen, which came out in March 2024.

Although it’s built on similar compositional ideas throughout, the album still manages to provide a comforting 25-minute stretch of ambient waves, soft piano-like synths, and field recordings of rain. It paints a clear picture of rainfall outside the window of “the Virgin’s inn” (Posada De La Virgen). Then a faint yet fairly brisk dance-leaning beat enters, shifting the mood into something more spirited and briefly keeping drowsiness at bay—before the music settles back into a lullaby-like drift.

As usual, I find myself wishing the drum beat wasn’t there, since it stops the track from making it into my favorites playlist, even though overall it feels better executed than the latest Bålsam release. If you enjoy a blend of ambient and electronic textures, or ambient with gentle beats reminiscent of vaporwave, this album is worth a try.

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