Complex Distractions Presents : Favorite Albums of 2022 Part IV(10-1)

These lists, as much as I enjoy putting them together, have become harder and harder to do. I never was much into ranking albums. I can talk about how much I love a record till I’m blue in the face, but putting them in some numerical order from loved to most loved is just a […]

Billow Observatory Return with ‘Calque’ EP, Out 1/13/23; Listen To “Kiyosumi”

Billow Observatory return with a new EP in January, and single “Kiyosumi” is subtle sonic beauty.

Billow Observatory : Stareside

Billow Observatory, the long-running collaboration between musician/producer Jonas Munk and the great Auburn Lull’s Jason Kolb, has been quietly reinventing what ambient music can be for a decade now. Guitars awash in sonic maipulation that sound more like electo haze in the distance, coupled with synths and effects, Billow Observatory make sounds that feel revelatory. […]

Finding The Sound : Jonas Munk Talks ‘Altered Light’, Ambient Music, And Collaborations

I feel I owe Jonas Munk a debt of gratitude. Ever since discovering Jonas’ work with Causa Sui, his solo work, as well as the whole of Jonas’ record label he runs with Jakob Skott(Causa Sui drummer, graphic design guru, synth noodler) I’ve found this vast sonic world where I’ve spent a good portion of […]

Transatlantic Chill : The Hazy Significance of Billow Observatory

Day three of our jaunt back in time, and the many significant conversations had at Complex Distractions. This week is a “best of” of sorts connected to the amazing record label El Paraiso Records. We revisited talks with drummer/synth wizard/graphic design guru Jakob Skott back in 2014, and yesterday was a chat with Rasmus Rasmussen […]

Billow Observatory Get Cinematic With The Gorgeous “Red Morning”; Watch Video

The musical duo of Jonas Munk and Jason Kolb, otherwise known as Billow Observatory, have turned subtlety into a gorgeous, slow-moving art form. Their ambient and new age “shoegaze” forms like fog rolling over a chilly lake. Heavily-effected guitar and synths cascade together into something altogether new and transcendent. Both on their own have made […]

Billow Observatory’s “Wash Away The Dust”

I’ve really been struggling with everything I’ve seen and read the last few days. The country has gone from shaky ground to deep, dark chasms opening up everywhere in every major city across the US. Not between citizens, as we’ve shown some major heart and love for one another as a whole. But the powers […]

Billow Observatory : III: Chroma/Contour

It’s always a wondrous thing to step into a Billow Observatory record. The electronic duo of Jonas Munk(Causa Sui) and Jason Kolb(Auburn Lull) don’t make your typical ambient electronic. Theirs is more this crystalline sound that feels like stepping into uncharted territory, or stumbling into the fortress of solitude. They build immaculate walls of drone, […]

Listen: Billow Observatory Calm The Universe With “Bright Lands Rising”

Jason Kolb and Jonas Munk create something special in their musical world called Billow Observatory. Glacial peaks, hazy pink horizons, distant cracks of light that reach with million mile arms, and ethereal melodies that seem to rise from some unknown world, Billow Observatory cast musical spells from somewhere outside our realm of reality. For several […]

Billow Observatory Ready ‘III: Chroma/Contour’; Listen To “Iris”

Jason Kolb and Jonas Munk have been collaborating both in person and via file sharing from across the Atlantic for over ten years as Billow Observatory. Over those ten years the ambient/minimalist duo have given us a self-titled album in 2012, II: Plains/Patterns in 2017, and now on February 8th Billow Observatory release their their […]