I really dropped the ball on this one. This album was released April 22, 2024 and totally slipped through the cracks on my messy desk, so my deepest apologies to the label and the artist. JARR is a collaborative project between British ambient guitarists Yellow6 (Jon Attwood) and Wodwo (Ray Robinson). 'All These Past Lives' is JARR's fourth album, and their third on the Sound In Silence label. If you're familiar with JARR, then the music is within the realm of what you'd expect- abstract compositions using guitar and electronics in a simulated ambient environment. It isn't so much ambient though, as it is experimental compositions built around slow and contemplative reverbed guitar loops, walls of ambient texture, delayed guitar melodies, minimal post-rock ambience and washes of distorted shoegazing drones. That just about sums it up, eh?

Well there is a good deal more to it than that. Often sounds/instruments come out of nowhere (like the organ on "Cartographer Maps a Way"), minimal butts up against maximal, lethargic acoustic guitar chords give way to corkscrewing distortion, and nostalgic phrases are revived anew. Musicians should appreciate the sonic variety Jon and Ray put into their music, and listeners should be constantly enthralled by the unexpected changes (as in the 6th track, "Fever") and shifts compositions take. The artists' emotional feelings are conveyed through the music of 'All These Past Lives' in a way that cannot be expressed in words and defies structure. The album is an ethereal trip to the world of dreams, where ideas are spawned and thoughts are shaped to later become reality. Past lives mix with present ambitions for future revelations. The last track, "There's a Girl Who Lives in the Woods" is the closest thing structurally to a song, and a wordless one at that. (Feel free to add your own lyrics.) This is certainly an album you won't be easily bored by. This is a limited edition of 200 handmade and hand-numbered collectible copies, or digital, if you prefer.