Avalon Sutra (Harold Budd) 5

This is a brilliant, excellently soundscaped album where the composer and pianist Harold Budd has shaped up for what he claims to be his final album. Now that I’ve heard almost his entire back-catalogue, I believe this to be his Magnum Opus.

Almost jazzy in ways, yet far too oblique to merely cover that level, this could shallowly be described as background music which one can also listen to in full; Brian Eno imagined a lot of ambient to work that way, and Budd has indeed filled that space with this double-album.

Touché!