A Lot on My Crate

Imagine just being at your wits end and your limit threshold. What if I told you there’s a place where you can have a moment of tranquility and peace? Somewhere to dissociate from out there where all the noise and weirdos are and associate with something that is calm and meditative. If you look up a thesaurus of all the positive attributes I’ve been listing, you can apply it to Fables by Isabel Pine. No, not Fable the video game franchise from yesteryears where Peter Molyneaux promises trees and dogs that grow with you and go to college. I’m talking about a musical artist Isabel Pines from British Columbia making her debut album. I remember scrounging for anything that will keep my nerves at bay as stress is the enemy of mankind. I was then fortunate to find this album, seeing the word “ambient” staring at my face, so I immediately swallowed this pill with a warm cup of hot cocoa. The album is such a warm embrace. This album is also not false advertising with its cover art, as it states you can sit down or walk about and just be at peace, meaning Fables works like a charm with nature being a very appropriate theme. I’ve never heard of Pine before, but apparently she had performed with an orchestra and was well versed in the viola according to Foxy Digitals. She found out herself that playing someone’s music is not as self gratifying as composing your own, so she did the brave thing and did a leap of faith going solo. She rewards us with Fables as it keeps the listener grounded in all of these simple, yet poignant compositions. As there are many elongated string chords that play for its ambient soundscape. It’s quite cinematic for it being a very quiet experience. The chords and the rests are well thought out not to disrupt the flow and the theme. The instrumentals range from string instruments all performed by Pine herself and some electronics occasionally. So, it’s all instrumental here with no vocals and influenced by her classical background. But that’s the calm with no storm as these tracks are like vignettes of solace as they don’t run too too long. So, let’s go! I’m happy to walk you through with my snow shoes on.

Just going into the highlights, “Wolves” gives us what you would expect from Fables, as it has these gentle string chords just lightly play off each other as either the melody or as ambience. The violin passage sounds like a marvel. During my first listen, I just wanted something chill when I was crate digging for ambient records, but what I got here is a gem of something that can put you at peace. “Winnow” is very mellow as well as dramatic as it tapers off into the end. “Never Been Here Before” sounds somber as the violin sounds like a cry as these minor chords do give us that mood. “Wandering” is probably my favorite out of this experience. It sounds like a celebration of salad days as you can play this during a slideshow of someone’s life or a dramatic movie. It has evoked the most emotions out of me. I beseech you to give this a listen if there’s one track you’re curious to try out. Even though, “West” is short, it made me visualize someone braving the snowstorm as our weary traveler goes against the frostbitten winds with how to grows. Press on, ole chap!

“Snow” is our first piece played exclusively with keys with these organs/synths just singing in these chapel halls with its heavenly reverb. It gives us a religious atmosphere and you feel nothing, but safety and sanctuary within. Such a magnificent listen. “Sun Dog” has strings and electronics working in tandem to emulate us being alone with our thoughts. We have “Perennial” that sounds like a earnest and heartfelt goodbye. Then the actual goodbye on this cosmic closer that is “Butterfly Lands on a Flower”, which is done with synths that sounds like it could be from Aphex Twin’s ambient pieces and sounds similar to “I”. It sounds so chill and is like one with the Earth.

If quiet classical ambient records are not your thing, I don’t recommend this to you. The record gets the job done, but it is a one note kind of package. There are some tracks here that I find forgettable or too wallpaper coded.

If one is looking for a moment of peace, then Fables is for you. I do love my bangers and jams, but I’m thankful slower albums like these exist. This collection of zen pieces can be used for any task that is good for contemplating in the background. It can be used for reading, hiking, or just sitting there. Heck, you can do anything you want if you just want an embrace of beautiful sounds. If Isabel Pine was aiming for melding one with nature with this sound, then I think it’s fair to say she has succeeded. The album doesn’t showboat or get complex. It doesn’t need to. She apparently recorded this album in (and outside!) a cabin, which sounds on brand for her. You can tell this person is one with nature as she knows how to make sounds emulate flowing wind that can move mountains. To end things here and tell you a lot about this album as a whole, here in the Foxy Digitals interview from earlier, she stated how she implements the natural reverb of recording this album:

“I like to play a little ways away from the stereo recorder that I use, so that the sounds become more a part of the environment. I really like this idea of being a part of the environment rather than being separate from it.”

Pine, Isabel, Interview. Conducted by Brad Rose of Foxy Digitals.

FAVORITE TRACKS: WOLVES, WINNOW, NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE, WANDERING, WEST, SNOW, SUN DOG, PERENNIAL, BUTTERFLY LANDS ON A FLOWER

LEAST FAVORITE: HOLLOW

You can purchase this album on Bandcamp and her discography is also available for streaming.

https://isabelpine.bandcamp.com/album/fables