When travelling you have to select your music with care. It might be tempting to listen to noisy music to forget all about the here and now, but then there’s a chance that you will arrive feeling tired and unfocused. Either it is a short daily commute or a long journey, the music you listen to will affect you. Ken Elkinson has now released the second installment in his popular Music for Commuting series, called Voulme 7-12. When listening to this, travelling suddenly becomes much less stressful. It might even turn your commute into a positive experience.
There’s a reason why pop music is popular – but it is not because it makes you feel relaxed. When Brian Eno’s Ambient 1 – Music for Airports was released in 1978 it created a sub genre for relaxation music meant for listening while traveling. These days we have many great similar albums to choose from, so no voyage should ever have to be stressful because of noisy music.
The Next Week
Music for Commuting Volume 1-6, Monday to Friday, was released in 2011 (see our review here). This year’s installment is called Next Monday, Next Tuesday and so forth all the way to Next Friday. The albums have same style as Elkinson’s previous Music for Commuting release. The synth arrangement is very well done, and Elkinson have composed many great ambient melodies. Here I can mention Icicle Rain, Settlement and Qualms. This time around though, I found that each individual day had less identity than on the first release, and Next Friday was slow and contemplative and didn’t have the freshness of the First Friday (Vol 6). The albums have nice covers, showing pictures made by Danish artist Ib Geertsen.
In conclusion: Elkinson’s two commuting albums are, if you put them in the same playlist, almost like a music library. Here you have many hours of high quality ambient music suitable for much more than your commute. It is great for creative work, studying or simply dreaming. There’s lots of variation, so you will likely not get tired of it this week – or the next…
90/100 – See how I rate music here
The collection is available on iTunes. You can also sample and buy the album on the artist’s homepage.