If ever there was a notebook bound by Brian Eno’s Ambient series, Will Long has spend the past 12 years filling its pages. Keeping up with Long’s work is almost a full-time job. I lost track of how many records he released last year alone (I believe about 15), and his Bandcamp catalogue boasts 132 releases…not including his work outside the Celer monniker. For new listeners, this can make it an intimidating discography to explore. After all, Long is pretty much the Robert Pollard of ambient music.
Luckily, Oslo’s iconic Smalltown Supersound is here to help! They’ll be releasing Long’s newest Celer album, Memory Repetitions on November 9. Before you ask, yes, that is indeed the most Celer-sounding album name ever. The record spans five pieces at about 30 minutes each, which the label says serve to “reflect on the labyrinthine body of work that comprises Celer.” It’s quite the project indeed, but fortunately it will compromise a 5-CD box set alongside its digital release. You can stream the effervescent first piece, “Tetra,” right now below.
Memory Repititinos follows a busy year for Long, who has continued to crank out those reliable Bandcamp releases as well as releasing his second minimal house record under his own name on Smalltown Supersound. And while ambient’s journey into the mainstream has stretched its definitive borders to new, confounding places; Celer has continued to sift through the sands of polaroid nostalgia and memory repetition. (I told you the name was fitting…) There is something uniquely comforting about that: an old stuffed animal you can always hold closely to chase nightmares away. Celer has always had that kind of magic. I expect it always will.
You can preorder Memory Repetitions now via—you guessed it—Bandcamp.
Memory Repetitions tracklisting:
01. Tetra
02. Simultaneity
03. Weak Ends
04. Nichibotsu
05. Caprice