Rupert Lally : Multitudes

Swiss-based, UK-born composer Rupert Lally seems to be able to do anything. Now an established author, Lally has been putting out thoughtful and engaging electronic music for some time. I personally discovered him with his releases via the great UK electronic label Spun Out Of Control.

Albums like The Prospect, Where The Dark Speaks, Maniac’s Almanac, and last year’s Hacker showed Lally as both an excellent composer but also one that could build a record around a concept. Albums that worked to world build – either inspired by established worlds(Stephen King for Where The Dark Speaks and Kevin Mitnick for Hacker) – or Maniac’s Almanac and The Prospect as original concepts brought to life through Lally’s distinct compositional prowess.

On Rupert Lally’s latest release, the ambient-heavy Multitudes, the composer/author has created a quiet and subtle sound world that locks into great ambient records of the past. Ghostly and cosmic at heart, Multitudes locks into Brian Eno, Jogging House, Hainbach and Arovane vibes, while creating something very, well, Rupert Lally. Even at his most horror-adjacent, Rupert Lally layered the work with atmospheric touches. Multitudes is Rupert Lally leaning into that side of his work and the results are exquisite.

Over the course of 10 tracks Rupert Lally builds a world of slow motion contemplation and cosmic, existential pondering. Each track on Multitudes builds to the next, giving you the feeling that this is a long form piece broken into ten movements. Not necessarily a concept album, but a record with the intention to help you escape for a bit. One that allows you to float in the ether between here and somewhere else.

Each song works its way into the next, giving the album a single experience. “Pulses” works into “Shifting Hands”, which builds to “Pine Wilderness”, which then melts into “Fjords”. This is an album that you experience and give yourself over to. Like most ambient/new age works, Multitudes is a record that you soak your psyche in. It’s therapeutic in that way.

There’s a vibe here. That of classic Windham Hill releases of the 70s and early 80s, as well as Private Press albums. Title track “Multitudes” has a cinematic feel to it, leaning into more subtle Tangerine Dream(think their Firestarter score). “The Red Room” has a majestic quality. As if you’re hearing a small symphony but emanating from another dimension. “End Transmission” closes out the album on an ethereal note, as if this dream-like world Lally built is slowly fading to black.

I feel there’s been a renaissance in regards to ambient/new age music in the last few years. With labels like Moon Glyph, Past Inside The Present, Aural Canyon, Azure Vista, and Zakè Drone Recordings bringing ambient works to the fold, there has been a newfound love and appreciation for the genre.

Rupert Lally has locked into that spirit with the excellent Multitudes. Building on subtle structures that bring us into mysterious musical worlds, Lally has created one of his most enduring and engaging records yet.