Various Artists – The Ambient Zone: Just Music Cafe Volume 4

The latest installment in the Just Music Cafe compilation series gathers contributions from artists across the globe, responding to a commission to compose music “around universal themes of calmness, purity, relaxation and enrichment.” If it sounds like we’re veering into Pan Pipe Moods territory, that suspicion is only bolstered by the label’s emphasis on the award given to Marconi Union’s opening contribution, Weightless, by TimeMagazine, which officially declared it “the world’s most relaxing song.”

It’s a shame that even ambient’s champions tend to emphasise the genre’s chillout qualities, because to do so diminishes the broad emotional spectrum explored on a collection like The Ambient Zone. The contributions from Echaskech and Laki Mera, in particular, have a sense of definition and narrative development that transcends the kind of shapeless nebulosity with which beatless instrumental music is often associated. The Ambient Zone is undeniably calming and relaxing; but don’t let that put you off. [Sam Wiseman]