“Uncoded Winds Below The Waves” is an ambient work that feels decidedly textbook at times. Its basis is a field recording of two stormy nights in Crete, but the musical work around it is fully geared towards taming and pacifying that sound. This is done by setting it in gentle slow electronic environments (four pieces, around ten minutes each), blending in other sounds of calmer waves both natural and artificial, and slowing everything down. The consequence of this is akin to a sonic impression of what it’s like to be curled up safely indoors during a dramatic storm.

Sonically, this goes large rather than homely. The synth passes are thick, epic and richly textured, sometimes almost cinematic in quality. Opener “Grecale” reels you in with a loose sense of optimism and space, which contrasts nicely against final piece “Maestrale” which is decidedly more oppressive-sounding.

In “Scirocco” there’s a soft kick drum that runs like a heartbeat underneath, providing structure but sounding quite isolated, as though on loan from more constructed music that hasn’t arrived. This is built upon, a little, in “Libeccio” which just begins to border on structured electronica, but maintains its composure almost resolutely.

Cynically, there are parts of this that do feel like ambient music by numbers, leaving you with a strong sense that you’ve heard it before. However it’s the assured composition and pristine-quality production values that carry this release, plus the fact that while the formula may be familiar, it’s still successful. This release certainly warrants inclusion on your sleep or chill out playlists, where it will pass by unremarkably but pleasantly. A timely release for a Northern winter.