ECOVILLAGE – THE ROAD NOT TAKEN 
Ecovillage is a Swedish duo: Emil Holmström and Peter Wikström. They’ve been creating music ever since 2001, releasing on various labels like Psychonavigation, Constellation Tatsu, Eilean Rec, Past Inside The Present and Dronarivm. Now they also can add the well-respected Laaps series to that list.
Perhaps I need to nuance that ‘now’: The Road Not Taken was already released in September, which unfortunately means that the physical editions are almost sold out by now (only 3 vinyl left at the time of writing). But there’s still the digital edition of course.
The Road Not Taken can hardly be described as a ‘duo’ album. Only the last track is performed by the Ecovillage alone, on all the other tracks Emil and Peter collaborate with artists they met in their musical career. There’s Fennesz, Henrik Meierkord (on no less than four tracks), Masayoshi Fujita, Aaron Martin, and Ruven Nunez.
These names are a clear indication of the kind of music you can expect: quiet and intimate, slow moving music with a natural, acoustic feel – according to the liner notes ‘a more sacramental and human feel compared to their previous work.’
TONI DIMITROV & DEMETRIO CECCHITELLI – A NEW DAWN
Another duo here – but this is their first collaboration: Toni Dimitrov (from Skopje, Macedonia) and Demetrio Cecchitelli (from Rimini, Italy).
They build their slowly evolving textures around field recordings, thus evoking ‘images of daily life surrounded by a whitening veil of nastalgia and melancholy’.
The textures are mainly developed by Cecchitelli, and the field recordings come from Dimitrov’s archive. The combination of sound feels like ‘a sound installation within a land-art point of view or a scenography merely composed of organic elements’.
And: it feels like summer. No coincidence I guess: was released in August – which (again) means that the physical CD-edition is almost sold out: 6 remaining at the time of writing.
DAVID CORDERO & MIGUEL OTERO – A POSSIBLE DISTANCE
David Cordero and Miguel Otero (both from Spain) conclude this trio of duos. Their album A Possible Distance is released on the Dronarivm label. It is the third time they produce an album together, following up Salinas (2020) and Distension (2021).
A Possible Distance ‘is a reflection on the gap between human relations and everyday life; distance and closeness. The immediacy and the small personal moments that make us feel even more alone’.
That may sound a little depressing at first, but in fact, the music sounds as refreshing as reflected in the cover image.
“Minimalist melodies wrapped in luminous skies to enhance common places while nature takes its course.’