Polish musician Bartosz Kruczyński goes by several different names: Earth Trax, Pejzaż, and The Phantom. He’s also one half of diggers / editors Ptaki. Chances are you’ve heard a release by least one of these pseudonyms, on labels like Emotional Response, Growing Bin, Shall Not Fade, and Very Polish Cut Outs. If you live in, or have visited, Poland you may well have also experienced one of Bartosz`s gallery or museum installations. His latest aural excursion comes care of Barcelona’s increasingly prolific Balmat – run by Albert Salinas and Phillip Sherburne. While Bartosz’s music covers a wide range of genres, this is most definitely ambient.

The album consists of two distinct sides, titled Dreams and Whispers. Each is a suite made up of seven short pieces. The dreams amount to a delicate drift of wood block percussion and the chimes of gamelan gong like vibes. Cut crystal sequences shower hushed choir-like harmonies, synergistically synthesising soft, synapse massaging sonics. Organic gyrations mixing with morphing modular undulations, bucolic bubbles, raising rippling currents of Steve Reich-ian repetition and counterpoint. Fluttering, filtered frequencies float on pretty percussive rivers and gentle gated swells. Filling the air with a sense of romance, while dizzy dancing details whir and waltz like busy clockwork.

The whispers present a more processed work. Where the individual elements / instruments are blurred to build a wall of serene noise. Densely textured structures of drone, sustain and resonance, in places recalling Brock Van Wey’s wonderful white clouds and Harold Budd’s collaborations with John Foxx. In others, Jon Hassell’s enchanted fourth world shimmer. These compositions are broken by sparse, spare piano, the distant rattle of plucked and strummed stringed things, and the zing of some heavenly zither. Melodies blinking like far away stars. Peaceful and playful, the side begins like the hum of a field in high summer, and closes with a tender tide of loved-up sighs.

Bartosz Kruczyński`s Dreams and Whispers is out now on Balmat.