I have a new release out now on Sound In Silence.

Stari Grad features two long-form tracks recorded during a residency at Radio Belgrade’s Electronic Studio in June 2024.

Named after the Serbian capital city’s old town area where the studio is located, it features environmental sounds recorded in nearby streets during the sweltering heat of early summer alongside thick, buzzing tones patched on the studio’s massive 1970s EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer.

Available digitally, as a limited edition handmade CD, or a deluxe CD with bonus track in a fabric envelope.

Thanks to Radio Belgrade and to George for releasing this and for the lovely mastering and packaging! 

Credits

Written and recorded by Wil Bolton
EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer and environmental sounds recorded during a residency at Electronic Studio Radio Belgrade, June 2024
Additional effects recorded in London
Mastered and designed by George Mastrokostas
Photography by Wil Bolton

Reviews

“Vital Weekly reviewed various works by Wil Bolton, but I am sure it’s only a fraction of his work… In June last year, he did a residency at Radio Belgrade’s Electronic Studio, which is part of the area which gave the CDR its name. The streets provided him with sounds to work with, which he set against a wall of drones from the 1970s EMS Synthi 100 synthesiser. Back home, he added a bit of reverb. On ‘Stari Grad’, there are two pieces, both exactly 21 minutes, and both pure sonic bliss. On the first track, ‘Skadarlija’, there seems to be more field recordings than on the second, ‘Venizelosova’. Quite a few birds are twittering here, along with some street action sounds, which are hard to identify. The synth drones are in slow motion and are vast in size. I am told Belgrade suffered a hot summer in 2024, and the music has that slow feeling a hot summer’s day has. Everything is slow, and yet, there’s also a subtle change to be noted. You close your eyes, and just as the sun changes, shadows lengthen; similarly, this music follows a trajectory of minimalist changes. The first piece has an outdoors feeling with those field recordings, and the second is very much the indoor variation, with its stricter electronic approach. Variation doesn’t equal sameness here; both pieces are very different and together make for an excellent release.” – Vital Weekly

“The first piece, “Skadarlija” (21:00) features harmonium-like sustained chordal drone with measured bass tones at intervals amidst birds and other quiet-side city ambience (footsteps on the pavement, a rumbling cart), and later, filtered synth drone. With that, you can kind of sense the heat rising off the sidewalk. Fans of minimal environmental ambient might like this one, as that is surely exactly what this is. “Venizeloslova” (also 21:00) is the second piece, with an ambiance more reflective of the seashore with the ebb and flow of noise with an overlay of of synth drones. This could also be highway traffic at a distance, perhaps in the rain, a wet roadway? I’d rather be at the seashore though, especially in the summer heat. Interestingly, there is a feeling of loneliness and isolation. Definitely of the Brian Eno school of minimal ambient music, meant to be passive and innocuous; wallpaper music for places without walls.” – Chain DLK

“Put out on the circuit via the Athens-based Sound In Silence label on June 30th, 2k25 is Wil Bolton’s “Stari Grad”, a 42 minutes spanning longplay piece which, interms of its title, pays homage to the old town quarters of the Serbian capital of Belgrade in which the album was recorded – more specifically within the confines of Radio Belgrade’s Electronic Studio. With both tracks – “Skadarlija” and “Venizelosova” – spanning 21 minutes each Bolton caters what could be referred to as a classic Ambient release for the label, with calm, yet ever moving and meandering panoramic synth pads providing an ideal soundtrack for a hot summer evening – indeed well suitable for a day like today on which temperatures in our hometown of Hamburg struck 30°C and beyond – whereas chirping, tweeting and chattering birds alongside seemingly field-recorded soundscapes of rather unclear origin add a rural atmosphere and harmonic bass tone repetitions are evoking memories of distant klaxons being blown over from a port a few miles down the shore with the second part of the journey indulging into even deeper and slightly more nocturnal Ambient atmospheres and therefore presenting somewhat of a return to the roots of the Sound In Silence imprint for those who’ve been following them over the course of the last decade or so. Lovely.” – Nitestylez

““Stari Grad” vuol dire letteralmente “Città Vecchia”, ed è il luogo in Serbia dove il chitarrista londinese Wil Bolton si è recato e nel quale ha preso ispirazione per realizzare “Stari Grad”, il suo terzo lavoro uscito per Sound In Silence.

L’album consta di due tracce: “Skadarlija” e “Venizelosova”, entrambe strade antiche della municipalità di Stari Grad, che in questo caso non è l’omonima città della Croazia appartenente alla regione spalatino-dalmata (e nota anche come Cittavecchia o anche Cittavecchia di Lesina), ma è l’antico nome della zona di Belgrado in cui è localizzato lo studio di registrazione usato per questo disco.

Entrambi i brani sono costituiti da un unico suono continuo, che perdura per 21 minuti esatti. Il suono, morbido e avvolgente, cambia lentissimamente, in maniera graduale. Ad esempio, nella prima traccia una notevole differenza si percepisce solo a partire dal dodicesimo minuto, quando il timbro si fa più tagliente, senza mai diventare aggressivo.

E attorno a questi due suoni prolungati, abbiamo field recordings delle suddette strade, che dovevano essere deserte in quel momento: in “Skadarlija” si sentono gli uccellini cinguettare, mentre in “Venizelosova” prevale il suono dell’aria, il fruscio del silenzio. Il suono elettronico che ci accompagna lungo tutto questo viaggio in Serbia proviene dal leggendario EMS Synthi 100, storico sintetizzatore nato nel 1973.

Io non sono mai stato a Belgrado, quindi neppure nella municipalità di Stari Grad, quindi non posso confermare o confutare quanto ascoltato: da quello che Wil Bolton ci racconta tramite i suoni, appare come una città tranquilla, in cui l’urbanistica (grazie Wikipedia!) accompagna una realtà al rallentatore. (Gilberto Ongaro)” – Music Map