Review: Porya Hatami – Arrivals and Departures

If you haven’t been paying attention, some of the best ambient-drone music has come out of some of the most obscure places in the past few years. Macedonia, Poland, Indonesia, Pakistan and Iran (where Porya Hatami hails from) have consistently been pumping out some of the most startlingly astute recordings that bridge the gap between evocative ambient music and heady post-classical. Hatami’s latest record, Arrivals and Departures, is full of calming, surging synthesizer tones that ebb and flow like the tide coming in. Beneath all of this droning beauty are fluttering keys, delicate guitar lines and unhurried ambience and fluidity—a perfect record for crisp fall days and cold nights. One of the few, great pleasures in life is discovering something that holds so much beauty coming from so far away. Do yourself a favor and sink into this record as the days get even shorter and beauty becomes more fleeting. –Ryan Hall