As a taster from the upcoming EP Ozone, Vapour Trail makes for a beautifully unique ambient journey that introduces William Jacobs’ musicality in a fairly striking way. What begins as a somewhat minimalist soundscape, soon evolves to become a notably cinematic, emotional journey – the sort with the potential to accompany a major scene in a movie.
In terms of the composition as a means of expression, you take that title idea, and you witness these riffs and this chord progression in a manner that takes you somewhere far away. This is the songwriting aspect – the feelings and the intention at the heart of the track. In terms of the individual building blocks though, Jacobs has made sure to compile the piece using fairly retro and uncommon synths and samples – this helps give the sound an immediately characterful and recognisable quality. You still get the emotion, as you would with any sort of remix – including a real time, organic instrumental set-up – but the layers and the particular style of these sounds helps add a definite sense of identity. In addition, it paints a more electronic story-line – perhaps something a little less human, a little more unreal or dreamlike; an idea that again could be cleverly connected to the title, depending on where you mind runs with that.
When you consider music as a tool for escapism, Vapour Trail has been perfectly well designed – allowing the listener to turn up the volume and feel completely immersed in this experience. The latter half sees weight and warmth overtake, there’s a lightly uplifting intensity to the progression, and this envelops you all the more so. These various synths and colors rain down around you, feeling completely joyful yet considerate of greater depths at the same time. I look forward to the longer project.
Vapour Trail will be available to download and stream on March 15th. Find & follow William Jacobs on Facebook, Spotify, Soundcloud & YouTube.
