proya Plays With Ambient Music's Capacity To Comfort & Be Discomforting On EP 'Subliminal'

Infusing a narrative in an ambient work, a genre often more about calm than movement by its initial design, is not a common achievement by budding artists of the genre. Therefore, it's remarkable to see Mumbai's Priya Panchwadkar aka proya manage it on her debut EP 'Subliminal'.

The wall of sound on 'find me', both placating and abrasive, echoes alongside the titular line, gradually unwinding into a tangible melodic run – something palpable finally being found from the dense cloud of sound. The metallic palette of 'INT' shifts into more botanica textures where the machine-like hiss feels more like rain before entering a more discomfortably strobing space. One shift too many for our taste, where perhaps sonic experimentation overtook compositional control, but undoubtedly creating an impressive musical world in each of its segments.

The EP title doesn't mislead, and while there are low hums that create a sense of liminal space, like on 'harvest/arriving', the producer and lens-based artist enchants the metaphorical air in those metaphorical spaces with a mix of held chords and their atonal distortions to speak more to emotions than memory of something outward. For every pleasant chime and horn line on 'snow', there is the harsh hiss and rattle of 'UGH'.

Check out the EP 'Subliminal' below and follow proya for more information.