Hidden Shoal Recordings has announced the digital pre-release of the eagerly awaited fourth album by US ambient artist Slow Dancing Society.

Following on from the ebullient warmth of the critically acclaimed Priest Lake Circa ’88, Under The Sodium Lights is Drew Sullivan’s latest ambient epic. The album feels like a distillation of the three stunning releases that preceded it – and as such is Sullivan’s finest work to date. The delicate interplay between focused melodic details and blurred washes of sound draws the listener into a hypnotic state, where the waking world and the world of sleep cascade in and out of balance.

Under The Sodium Lights resonates with a rich emotional core – and the choking realisation of our own transience. The album rewards immersive listening from start to finish, to really soak in its beauty.

“a complexity of sound that allows it to stand out from traditionally ambient music… It is easy to get dissolved in this album, to let yourself fall into meditation as the music plays… Textures and timbre are executed with great precision… Even the simplest of songs allow complimentary textures to be layered upon each other to create a robust yet spacious sound… an aural delight for the listener.” – The Silent Ballet on Priest Lake Circa ’88

Under The Sodium Lights is available now as a digital pre-release followed by the official CD release on 30 September 2010 (pre-order now available via n5Mailorder). Head to the Hidden Shoal Store for all availability details. Read a full press release here.

Slow Dancing Society – by your side Slow Dancing Society – by your side

Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of the first track and accompanying music video taken from the eagerly awaited fourth album by US ambient artist Slow Dancing Society. Both single and video are now available for free download.

Following on from the ebullient warmth of the critically acclaimed Priest Lake Circa ’88, ‘…and to the dust we shall return’ is the perfect introduction to Drew Sullivan’s latest ambient epic, Under The Sodium Lights. Accompanied by a stunning video by Latvian filmmaker Ieva Balode, this glorious seven-minute song sees the gradual accretion of reverberant guitar tones, emerging from the silence as sparse reflections across the stereo field. Slow searching melodies overlap and accumulate before a descending bass figure carries the song home to its elegiac conclusion. The song, like all Slow Dancing Society releases, resonates with a rich emotional core – and the choking realisation of our own transience.

“a complexity of sound that allows it to stand out from traditionally ambient music… It is easy to get dissolved in this album, to let yourself fall into meditation as the music plays… Textures and timbre are executed with great precision… Even the simplest of songs allow complimentary textures to be layered upon each other to create a robust yet spacious sound… an aural delight for the listener.” – The Silent Ballet on Priest Lake Circa ’88

‘…and to the dust we shall return’ is now available through the Hidden Shoal Recordings Store. The single and music video will be available for free download until the new Slow Dancing Society album Under The Sodium Lights is released on 25 August 2010. Stream the music video at Youtube and Vimeo and read a full press release here.

Check out the latest edition of the wonderful Inside The Label show at New York’s awesome Breakthru Radio (home of the mighty DJ Mojo!). The show features an hour of tracks selected from across the Hidden Shoal catalogue. Lurvly!

Slow Dancing Society track “The Rest of Our Lives,” off the album The Slow and Steady Winter, has been used for a Vogue TV jewellery video featured on the front page of Vogue UK. Mario Godlewski photographed the season’s most dazzling jewels for Vogue and put together a showcase video- check out all the pretty colours! The Slow and Steady Winter is available from the Hidden Shoal Store.

Slow Dancing Society – The Rest of Our Lives Slow Dancing Society – The Rest of Our Lives