A new album by ambient/post-rock guitarist Jon Attwood of Leicestershire, UK, with the ambiguous title of 'Sometimes It Seems Too Easy, Sometimes It's Just So Hard' makes I don't know how many releases on Sound In Silence, but it seems like quite a few. Between 2023 and 2024 Jon made around 4 hours of music, 9 tracks of which are on this album. The selection was made by Jon and his friend Julian, who divided the tracks into dynamic and static. Only the dynamic track made it onto the album, which has me wondering what the static tracks sound like. The dichotomy in the title is obviously representative of Jon's creative process, something I think most musicians go through, when some compositions come about relatively easily, and others seem to take eons to realize. My first time though this album I was reluctantly disappointed. There was much I though was uninspired improvisation, and although some of that stuck in subsequent listenings, I do have a better appreciation for it now. First track, "Aiming Low" has atmospheric tremolo chords over repeating arpeggios. Mysterious and nearly psychedelic, this moody little number is a great opener that unfolds beautifully. "Finding Direction," which follows is a sublimely understated piece that offers a different mood enhanced by minimal percussion moving the track along. The pace is nearly trudging but it in no way hampers the delicacy of the ambience. Next, on the title track, the minimal opening notes give way to majestic chords that build up...but don't seem to go anywhere beyond that. "PVC2" takes four guitar chords on an awfully long journey well over eleven minutes. And although there is embellishment, anything past eight minutes seemed a bit superfluous. "Restart" seemed to me like I'm just fucking around here in my studio without a clue and let me throw some hazy, fuzzy chords together and see what comes of it. Not a whole hell of a lot in my opinion. By the middle it melts into some sort of psychedelic stew, but I can't find any direction here. "Zygomorph" only seems to amplify the lack of direction and the chords strum out with anything I can hold onto. There is a bit more meat on the bone on "The Waters Rise But We're Still Afloat" in that there seems to be a recognizable theme (along with percussive elements that enhance the track) and I don't mind the repetitiveness here, in fact I quite enjoy the trance-like ambience. Next, "The End is Near," but not too near, as this track is the longest at 13:19, and still one more to go after this. There is tension and drama on this one, as sparse percussion elements and layers of guitar combine to push the envelope. The little break in the middle had me thinking things might fall apart, but after a minute things got back on track and even picked up nicely toward the end. "To The Final" is an absolutely gorgeous ambient guitar piece, kind of shoegazey, and there's nothing wrong with that. This is an album that takes time to grow on you. Physically, this release came in two versions, both with the typical Sound In Silence hand-made packaging. Version 1 (limited to 100 copies) you get a bonus disc of "static tracks" left off the regular release, but I see that it's sold out now. Version 2 is regular 9 track version (77 minutes!) and that is still available.