'Eleven Dance' Strengthens Fursat FM's Singular, Accessible Ambient Voice

Understatedly, Rohit Gupta aka Fursat FM (who also performs as part of Peter Cat Recording Co.'s current lineup) has been presenting some of the strongest ambient releases in the past 3 years without making much fuss about it – much like the music itself. His recently released 3rd album, 'Eleven Dance,' solidifies his patterns that lend his work a unique identity within the genre.

Fursat FM's strain of ambient is rarely dense and abstract, but rather accessible and melodic. On the new 9-track release, it's well-represented by a track like 'Pitter' where a solemn trumpet takes short melodic flights that resolve comfortingly back. In its format of a central instrument weaving melodies over a secure foundation of drone and rhythms, it's almost like a piece of Indian classical music, just with the choice of sounds turned on its head. While the rhythmic subtleties are contributed through the seemingly random (likely generative) plucks that lend the track its title, a heavy plucked low note and harmonium chords fill out the drone like a tanpura, sans the predictability.

Later on in the album, 'Residue' would follow a similar approach, but this time using an entirely different palette of arpeggiating metallic twangs and atonal drifts to create a more tense meditative state. Other times, the album offers a light-hearted motif repeating and lilting to get you wistfully swaying, like with the upfront melodies of 'Seasonal' or the hypnotic and nearly-exotic ones on the title track. The album frequently switches its methodology, letting its guest collaborators create the atmosphere through sonic collages ('Sunyata ft. Jayant Manchanda'), spoken messages ('Jaaror Raatir Manuhjon ft. Prativa Devi'), and vocal warblings ('Kinare Dariya ft. Arman Dehlvi), or even take melodic charge like with the reverb-drenched guitars by Subid Khan on 'An Opening'. Briefly, Fursat FM lets himself operate in the more common dense grounds of the genre as motifs blur into clouds that only hint at a shape before dissipating on 'Drifting'.

Even with all its varied approaches, the album maintains a distinctive craftsmanship that not only distinguishes Fursat FM within the genre but each work within his own growing discography. The graspable identity of each outing nearly challenges the notion of passive listening associated with the genre, and yet it presents it challenge pleasantly.

Listen to 'Eleven Dance' below and follow Fursat FM for more