Mix of the Week 5/6: Bilius Moon - mixtape for a bit of hush
Sam Marsh, aka bilius moon, is a Melbourne DJ who produces mixes that take a different approach. His unique style of minimalist ambient music is a much needed breather from the intensity of urban life. This week’s mix, mixtape for a bit of hush, is exactly what it sounds like; it gives the listener some space to stop and relax.
The mix is slow, in the best way possible. For one hour, there are only a handful of ‘tracks’, each lasting around 10 minutes. Soft synths and gentle keys boom over for long periods of time, with very few layers of sound playing at once. Sometimes they stay quiet and distant, with heavy delay effects giving them an out-of-world atmospheric resonance. At other times they phase in and out with whirling reverb, creating a hypnotic effect. As the mix goes on, these foundational synth and key layers are built upon. The at times cinematic synth drones have minimal ambient effects introduced over the top, like bird chirps, bug noises and rain drops. He also introduces some interesting keyboard melodies, which shimmer in the foreground and bounce around with a ping-pong delay effect. At around the thirty-minute mark, some percussion instruments are introduced. However, there is a heavy amount of reverb and delay, meaning they match the relaxed echo of the other layers. The mix starts to diversify in sound, but not tone, towards the end of the hour. As synth layers are stripped away, gentle saxophones, guitars and vocals are introduced to replace the minimalistic sounds. Vinyl distortion effects gives all of these louder instruments a soothing timbre. The mix ends of some world music influenced sounds, with Indian percussion and strings leaving the listener in a Hindi state of Zen.
Take a break from the business of modern life and listen to this mixtape. A bit of hush is good for the mind and Marsh’s ambient mix is the perfect relaxant.
