Here, on Udgitha of the Dogs, the concrete and the incorporeal run endless circles around each other to form each sublime composition. Vito Lucente is a Toronto musician whose work I hadn’t encountered until now, which was clearly an egregious oversight; he’s making exactly the kind of ambient the world needs more of right now, using subtle rhythms and tactile textures as anchors for the immersive waves of noise that swirl and unfurl over the course of each track. The title track, which opens the tape, is probably the shortest, most digestible fourteen-minute piece I’ve heard in recent memory, despite its lack of significant dynamic change or evolution. Lucente’s lush dreamscapes of chromatic, fuzz-drenched drones remain largely stagnant in the context of the entire piece but never cease their gorgeous, whirlpool-like currents, all the while kept in focus by a quiet but tangible crackle that occupies the center of the stereo space. “One in the Many” and “Lifting Metric Structure” both expand on that element of grounding physicality, with the former’s clatters melting into the pool of reverb that surrounds them and the latter almost seeming to be torn apart by amplified tape manipulations. The final tracks are as beautiful as the mysterious chunk of prose written about them on the Bandcamp page (which I have reprinted below) would imply, a fitting end to a journey that feels spiritual even to me, probably the least spiritual person out there.

Mass of hexagonal prismatic cells, Honeycomb Laden with a Glowing Light of Honey. Laborious works of a fellowship hive, the Queen bee buzzing intoxicating nectars. And blanched to divinity from process of scald, the White Dog Udgitha blocks her noise. Essence of harmonies in balance, uniting creatures white, black, and yellow. Connection evolved from a circle of virtue, devotion, and praise—One love. One ecosystem, that is all. The Origin and End of Everything.