title:

waiting for tomorrow

label:

distant noise records

format:

cd

release date:

17.06.09

cat. no.:

dn013

tracks:

unfold

birch

grid reference

sitka

loom

leaving at dawn

half remembered

salthouse

rose window

neon drift

amner

"wil bolton returns with a cheju album for distant noise records and it is up there with his best. 'waiting for tomorrow' takes his customary blend of organic electronic sounds and clicking, buzzing beats and allies them to beautiful and melancholy melodies in tracks ranging from the more upbeat, 'grid reference' to ambient soundscapes such as 'salthouse'. making extensive use of, at times heavily processed, guitars and piano, 'waiting for tomorrow' is both a development of and a beautiful realisation of the cheju sound and one which is sure to be rated highly by his many fans." - distant noise, 06.09

"no one likes getting woken up early, especially me. this morning i awoke to neighbours rowing, with words like 'disgusting', 'scum' and 'idiot' repeated about 80 million times. i needed calm on this overcast saturday morning and luckily this cd was poking invitingly from my letterbox as i ventured wearily from my bedroom. luckily i say because i needed some respite from the volley of insults that had come from said female’s mouth. i pressed play and raised the volume to drown out the menacing howls from below and 'unfold' did something miraculous. the sweet ambient chimes sound proofed my mind and evaporated the clatter that so disturbed my equilibrium this morning. calmness approached... 'grid reference' weaves intricate beat patterns and glitchy nuances. this song could raise a smile on the face of the most rigid and angry person in the world. i am almost contemplating inviting the neighbours around for some relief from the obvious rigours of close living. think isan, obfusc and boards of canada and you have the musical equivalence; beta blockers on a day filled with countryside sunshine. 'leaving at dawn' has a title that becomes so apparent. the song gently awakens, packs it’s bags amongst bird call and says, 'do not disturb! i am leaving'. a song that makes me feel nostalgic, and makes me want to set out on journeys afar. and with this mornings commotion, i could see myself in fields and pastures new. distant noise and cheju are already onto a winner and we are only half way through the album. my personal favourite track on this release is 'rose window.' an instrumental that starts of with a mandolin that picks hair raising minor chords with expertise. a fat hip-hop beat kicks in and the song swaggers off down the road with the confidence of liam gallagher after twelve cans of stella artois. cheju has mastered the art of complex song structure and mood to levels of genius that shoot of into territories which up until now seemed unknown to many in the electronica genre. a range of moods, sounds and atmosphere that has to be heard to be believed. cheju had a wealth of experience under his belt before this album. after this release that wealth has grown so much that a few more notches on said belt will have to be put into place. well done that man! 8/10 " - crumbs in the butter, 07.09

"het elektronische kwaliteitslabel distant noise heeft een hoog doe-het-zelf gehalte. hierdoor zijn ze wel in staat steeds weer interessante en eigenzinnige artiesten aan te trekken. na en naast hun onvolprezen 'series one', waar ze zeer gelimiteerde cd-r’s van diverse artiesten uitbrengen, komt het label ook af en toe met reguliere releases. eén daarvan is de cd waiting for tomorrow van cheju. wil bolton, de britse meneer achter dit project, heeft een indrukwekkende staat van dienst met onder meer releases op boltfish recordings, unlabel, static caravan, smallfish en u-cover. hij brengt normaliter idm van de bovenste plank vermengd met melodische organische elektronica. op zijn nieuwste album brengt hij zijn beste werk tot nu ten gehore. de idm is nog steeds één van de hoofdingrediënten maar hij brengt het nu steevast op luchtiger en sfeervollere wijze en gecombineerd met allerlei andere stijlen. zo hoor je nu eveneens zomerzwoele ambient, wave-geluiden en filmische muziek. naast de elektronische klanken hoor je ook piano, veldopnames en vervormde gitaren terug in de muziek. ook de meer stuiterende, uptempo ritmes omwikkelt hij in een warme deken. hij weet de elektronische muziek een menselijk gedaante geven. de instrumentale muziek houdt het midden tussen portal, boards of canada, milieu, beamont hannant, gnac, moby, manual en brian eno. toekomstmuziek? nee wacht niet tot morgen, geniet er nu al van! zeer innemend werk die een prachtige soundtrack voor de melancholische zomer vormt." - caleidoscoop, 07.09

"riprendono le transmissioni della distant noise, sempre nella forma di pubblicazioni in cd super limitate. primo album della nuova serie di pubblicazioni è l'ennesima raccolta di cheju. alias wil bolton, un ragazzo inglese che negli ultimi cinque anni ha pubblicato più di venti lavori discografici per etichette come boltfish, u-cover, awkward silence e static caravan. 'waiting for tomorrow' è l'ulteriore passo in direzione di una leggera elettronica sognante che ha molto in comunque con le derive shoegaze della morr music di dieci anna fa. undici tracce che mostrano l'indubbio talento di wil nel construire languidi paesaggi melanconici utilizzando strumenti acustici (pianoforte, archi, etc) e massicce dosi i silicio." - rockerilla, 07.09

"under the guise of cheju, wil bolton has featured on over seventy releases in the short space of six years. whilst this total only features a mere seven albums, no one could argue that he isn’t prolific. bolton’s style covers organic electronic music, beats and tuneful melancholia. there’s warmth and melody a-plenty in the whirring electronica of ‘unfold’ and from there the flow continues. each track has at least two contrasting layers such as glitch/synths for ‘grid reference’ and beats/rich organ noises for ‘rose window’. the orientally flavoured ‘sitka’ impresses but it’s during the middle of the record when bolton comes in to his own as the thoughtful, sombre beauty of ‘loom’, ‘salt house’ and ‘half remembered’ evoke sad times in sad places. on the flipside of the coin, a stately piano underscores ‘birch’ but it fails to build on its haunting motif and the overall album length could have been pruned by another ten minutes at least. 'waiting for tomorrow' is never less than pleasant but whether it’s good enough to rise above the huge amount of artists in this area is doubtful. still, if you’re after melodic electronica with experimental yet human touches, you could do a lot worse." - leonards lair, 07.09

"nous avions déjà eu le plaisir de parler de will bolton, aka cheju, à l'occasion de la sortie de son album broken waves (chroniqué ici), en janvier dernier. ce talentueux britannique est co-fondateur du label boltfish. il a officié au sein de biotron shelf en compagnie du non moins talentueux mint et également avec jon lee sous le doux nom de bal-a-klah-va. baptisé cheju en l'honneur des magnifiques îles coréennes du même nom, il parvient aisément à retranscrire dans sa musique toute la luxuriance et le mystère qui plane sur ces îles méconnues. waiting for tomorrow paraît donc récemment sur l'ambitieux label distant noise. cheju se permet de nous pondre deux albums en un peu plus de six mois. broken waves squattait ma platine il n'y pas une semaine. par bonheur, waiting for tomorrow est de la même veine. certes plus facile d'accès et plus organique, la qualité du disque ne s'en ressent pas. les rythmes sont également moins complexes mais cet opus se montre encore plus caressant que le précédent. on note néanmoins une recrudescence d'instruments digitalisés. de somptueuses et bienvenues guitares apparaissent tout au long du disque. les claviers, clavinets et synthétiseurs sont eux aussi à l'honneur pour cette idm apaisante et onirique. cheju joue aussi plus avec les saturations à l'aide de blasts aussi agressifs qu'un massage de vestale. on a perpétuellement le sentiment d'être en apesanteur, voguant tranquillement au son des textures atmosphériques filtrées et de ces beats gentiment scindés par un glitch toujours aussi discret. l'album est à proprement parler excellent, avec une préférence non dissimulée pour les excellents grid reference, half remembered, rose window et le grandiose neon drift (9'26) qui nous fait basculer dans un rêve dont on ne souhaiterait jamais parvenir à sortir. vous aurez bien compris que cheju nous offre une fois de plus un somptueux disque. la recommandation est faite, à vous de plonger..." - chroniques electroniques, 07.09

"à force de sortir des disques, et waiting for tomorrow est son dix-neuvième cd, son quatrième album et même son second long-format pour cette seule année 2009 (qui n’en est, au surplus, qu’à sa moitié), on pourrait supposer que cheju lasse, y compris jusque dans les rangs de ses plus fidèles amateurs (dont, reconnaissons-le, nous faisons partie). pour autant, à chaque fois, l’anglais trouve le moyen de nous séduire : exploration d’un nouveau champ de l’electronica, développement d’une thématique particulière ou recours plus important à des éléments jusqu’alors peu utilisés. c’est précisément cette option que wil bolton retient pour ce nouvel album avec l’intégration récurrente d’une guitare digitalisée et d’un piano. ainsi, dans birch, ce dernier, au son direct et clair, se fend d’un dialogue vaporeux avec quelques crépitations tandis que dans loom, il se pare d’atours plus proches d’un orgue soyeux. pour salthouse, rose window et neon drift, c’est la six-cordes qui occupe le devant de la scène avec respectivement ses pickings délicats, ses arpèges aux consonances métalliques et ses interventions plus aériennes et lumineuses. à côté de ces matériaux, les mélodies se font toujours aussi graciles, comme échappées d’un glockenspiel numérique (unfold, salthouse), et les atmosphères toujours aussi oniriques (leaving at dawn, half remembered). par ailleurs, les morceaux plus rythmés emportent aisément l’adhésion par leur combinaison entre vents électroniques et lignes chromatiques entraînantes à l’immédiateté contagieuse (grid reference). bref, ce n’est pas avec ce disque-ci que l’on arrêtera de suivre cheju." - etherreal, 07.09

"sostanzialmente sconosciuto ai più, ma oggetto di un vero e proprio culto tra gli appassionati di musica elettronica al confine tra isolazionismo ambientale e dancefloor, il prolificissimo will bolton aka cheju inanella l’ennesima di oltre una dozzina di produzioni disseminate nel corso di pochi anni su svariate etichette elettroniche, tra le quali unlabel, u-cover, october man e la sua personale boltfish. “waiting for tomorrow”, seconda uscita dell’annata dopo l’imponente “broken waves”, pubblicato nello scorso mese di gennaio, segna l’approdo di bolton alla distant noise piccola ma combattiva label che fa capo a tarl broad-ashman (innerise), già segnalatasi lo scorso anno per la serie di dodici uscite mensili che hanno visti impegnati, tra gli altri, yellow6, televise e jessica bailiff. la scelta dell’etichetta non può certo ritenersi casuale, visto il suo breve ma ormai consolidato percorso attraverso contaminazioni tra elettronica e strumentazioni reali, poiché “waiting for tomorrow” non fa altro che proseguire la parabola di bolton, dapprima esplicito paladino di una idm profonda, seppure realizzata con strumentazioni essenziali, e adesso sempre più proteso alla ricerca di una formula in grado di contemperare battiti elettronici ancora presenti in grande quantità con sonorità organiche, frutto di chitarre filtrare e di più minute screziature ambientali. l’accresciuta articolazione delle opere di bolton corrisponde fedelmente al progressivo smussamento delle enfasi ritmiche in favore di composizioni più piane, adesso meno dedite a una dance music (per quanto “intelligent”...) e sempre più velate di una sottile malinconia, perfettamente trasfusa in atmosfere avvolgenti in prevalenza morbide e notturne. nei cinquantadue minuti di “waiting For tomorrow” è di tutta evidenza come il descrittivismo delle composizioni di cheju non sia più volto a un’indistinta e frenetica danza di sinapsi ma a elucubrazioni maggiormente riflessive che non solo si tramutano in texture cullanti ma addirittura giocano con cammei acustici (lo xilofono di “loom”, le note rilucenti di “rose window”), fino ad avventurarsi in trasognati territori spacey, come nel caso di “sitka”, e nel morbido romanticismo ricorrente in “birch” e nell’emblematica chiusura “amner”. non si pensi, tuttavia, che bolton abbia smarrito il gusto di divertirsi (e divertire) con battiti profondi e più incalzanti, poiché gli basta sempre ben poco per accelerare i ritmi, rilanciandoli persino nei brani in apparenza più dilatati e lasciandoli andare liberamente in quelli dalla durata – non a caso – maggiore, come “half remembered” e gli oltre nove minuti di “neon drift”. da considerarsi non altro che come un interessante tassello nella vorticosa produzione dell’artista inglese, “waiting for tomorrow” non sarà certo questo l’album in grado di affrancarlo dall’esclusiva attenzione di una cerchia di pubblico affezionato, tuttavia “waiting for tomorrow” testimonia in maniera pregevole un importante processo di avvicinamento della musica genericamente classificata come idm a linguaggi diversi, che contemplano approcci ambientali con atmosfere sfumate e interazioni elettro-acustiche fino a poco tempo fa in quest’ambito difficilmente prospettabili. 6.5/10" - ondarock, 07.09

"in addition to being frequent boltfish contributors, auer and boltfish co-founder wil bolton (aka cheju) share common musical ground: both emphasize the melodic and atmospheric dimensions in their music and typically opt for a clean and smoothly polished sound. but there are differences too: while auer's disc is rooted in techno, bolton allows room for funk and hip-hop in his waiting for tomorrow and also makes extensive use of processed electric guitar, piano, and glockenspiel in its tracks; the album is also, on the whole, a bit more languorous and less uptempo than auer's. with its slow and stately weave of synthesizer and glockenspiel melodies, “loom” showcases the cheju sound at its most somber and beautiful, while “unfold” anchors layers of electric guitars with a subtly swinging hip-hop feel. “rose window” contrasts keyboard melodies that chime so brightly they resemble a harpsichord's and a head-nodding beat pattern that bolton dirties up with a thin coating of grime. rather unexpectedly for a cheju track, the desert twang of electric guitars occupies center stage during the opening minutes of “neon drift” before tinkling melodies, brooding electronic ambiance, and shuffling breakbeats join in too. as usual, the uk-based producer's music is never anything less than elegant, and cheju devotees will find ample evidence on the fifty-minute release of bolton's trademark synthetic warmth." - textura, 08.09

"following the release of broken waves on boltfish records, waiting for tomorrow is cheju’s second full-length of 2009. having finished seven records in six years, such is the break-neck pace wil bolton has preferred throughout his career, issuing humble love-letters to relaxed beats and tender melodies. distinguishing itself from the pack, waiting for tomorrow leans closer to rainy day ambient music, often letting the beats rustle half-realized in the back of the mix. the resonating piano that leads ‘birch’ shares the spotlight as sparingly as ‘amner’ allows its mumbling keys to speak up, while ‘salt house’ is a lovely folk progression that fails to develop into song. moreso than previous affairs, waiting for tomorrow has a contemplative edge that unfortunately sounds as if bolton recorded this waiting for inspiration instead of soundtracking it. luckily cheju’s latest doesn’t spend all its time wandering around the house. as the stuttering beats of ‘grid reference’ off-center some lovely keyboard melodies, ‘unfold’ is classic distant noise electronica, all shimmering keys and laptop loops that spawn the wide-open feel only shoegaze can instill. these tracks are oasis’s, however; the few instances which find cheju’s structures fastened down and eagerly motivated, among waiting for tomorrow’s beat-driven efforts or not. although technically beat-oriented, ‘half remembered’ and ‘loom’ keep time with tired, unwavering breakbeats; the former running a complacent seven minutes. for a disc so short on surprises, it’s downright shocking that ‘neon drift’, the longest track here at nearly ten minutes, feels like a godsend. what begins like another buzzing stalemate takes shape with bolton’s treated guitar work, which echoes eloquently over a soundscape that organically grows from buzzes, to underwater gleams, to deft beat-programming. the odd yawn aside, there’s nothing stylistically or technically ill-fated about waiting for tomorrow; in fact on paper it sounds low-key and pretty. and I can’t even argue that. what is abundantly clear, however, is that cheju doesn’t seek any new ventures that haven’t already been pillaged and discarded by the likes of arovane and ulrich schnauss a near-decade ago. waiting for tomorrow doesn’t underwhelm because it isn’t progressive, it underwhelms because it operates as if progression in electronica never happened. for an artist of such prolific nature, cheju's conservative streak seems quite at odds with what should be a gradual evolution. 64%" - the skeleton crew quarterly, 10.09

"cheju are back with a brand new album, waiting for tomorrow, on the distant noise label/imprint whatever you call 'em these days!! i reckon i call 'em labels but when i'm feeling fancy i'll call 'em imprints and enjoy a fine scone with one. that's the kind of guy iam... ascone eating guy. i'd like to think cheju chows down on scones and other delicious high tea treats while he's making his brand of twinky crunchy electronica. well there's only a very slight crunch... it's a much more delicate affair than previous albums as the beats are light, twinkle are ample and there's plenty of melody and ambience to keep you busy. it's a decent strong album from start to finish and it's one i'd recommend to those who are into that whole melodic electronica shannigans. fans of u cover, plone, plaid, neo ouija etc will like this lots me thinks. Lovely stuff." - norman records, 10.09

"over the last five years, wil bolton (aka cheju) has easily emerged as one of the uk post-idm / leftfield electronic scene’s most prolific operators, with an intimidating backcatalogue of physical and web releases that would put to shame many other artists who’ve been putting out tracks for twice as long. this latest album for distant noise ‘waiting for tomorrow’ certainly sees this prolific workrate continuing, emerging just a few months after his preceding broken waves collection on bolton’s own boltfish recordings label. in comparison to earlier cheju releases such as his bubble wrap ep, which was a purely synthetic affair, the eleven tracks gathered here see bolton instead centering around the use of treated guitars and piano as source material, a shift that sees his meticulous digital productions taking on a distinctly more warm and human-sounding feel. whereas on previous cheju albums the harsh, buzzing synthetic rhythms that stutter beneath ‘grid reference’ might have emphasised the cold digital pristine-ness surrounding them, here they’re beautifully counterbalanced by the delicate, almost wide-eyed guitar strokes that flicker gently around them. it’s a metaphor that applies to much of this album – while ‘sitka’ builds a relentlessly slow emotional undertow by fusing twinkling bells and bluesy guitar bends with fluttering idm rhythms and what sounds like a fender rhodes, before ‘rose window’ places complex, flexing snare patterns stuttering beneath a wash of chiming treated guitar plucks and blurred-out bass synths that’s part neo-folk, part prog-rock wander. in this case, it’s precisely this warm, human-sounding edge that results in waiting for tomorrow being one of bolton’s most immediately accessible and satisfying cheju albums to date." - cyclic defrost, 11.09

"riprendono le trasmissioni della distant noise, sempre nella forma di pubblicazioni in cd super limitate. primo album della nuova serie è l'ennesima raccolta di cheju, alias wil bolton, un ragazzo inglese che negli ultimi cinque anni ha pubblicato più di venti lavori discografici per etichette come boltfish, u-cover, awkward silence e static caravan. “waiting for tomorrow” è l'ulteriore passo in direzione di una leggera elettronica sognante che ha molto in comunque con le derive shoegaze della morr music di dieci anni fa. undici tracce che mostrano l'indubbio talento di wil nel costruire languidi paesaggi melanconici utilizzando strumenti acustici (pianoforte, archi, etc) e massicce dosi di silicio." - losing today, 12.09

"wil bolton prolific career exemplifies not the kind of authorship that produces just ideas for the sake of stimulating production or inventive, not even public attention, in a way each of his creations is unique and beautiful above all and this is not a mere compliment formality. “waiting for tomorrow” his new album released on the uk based distant noise records is the kind of album that slowly seduces any kind of listener whether interested or not into the idm mechanics, second by second and track by track the album opens like a flower displaying different tonalities and colourful definitions that focus the attention of the listener over its aural blooming. the sound that cheju has imprinted as its trademark is noticeable, utterly organic electronica with an almost pastoral cadence on the ambience, surrounding melodies that come as friendly and fresh winds to complement the structure and this natural minimalism denoted by the insectivore glitch quality that comes as palpitating fireflies in a daydream constructs this beautiful album that portrays bolton as one of the most renowned figures in the scene from modern electronica. at first it may sound as just another ambient album with an upbeat quality and some archetypal structure consolidated into idm, but as soon as the listener penetrates the cellar the symptoms of surprise will manifest, this occurred for me during the second track. suddenly you will start to notice the details, first thing will be the instrumental versatility, chops of violins, piano and guitar chords will slowly unveil a complex melodic dynamic demarked by a poppy structure with catchy rhythm. the melody will sweeten and impress and then the beat will make you move from the inside. the progressions show that this album is not merely dedicated as popcorn as a transcendental and melancholic construction is noticeable through the structure and beautiful melodies, there is a pause and a moment of introversion inside many tracks that lets all the melodies to find a link with the listener’s soul and a better digestion on its development which is a great chance since generally each track presents a motley structure. this is active ambience with a third eye, preserving a mellow character with agile construction and an attractive rhythm modulation although the extremes varies at times when it presents a more atmospheric development in tracks like “sitka” with its soothing natural sound and various instrumental articulations that comes as sweet drops of water slipping from leaves. there is also more electronica induced designs like “loom” with its figments of piano and moogs and general atmosphere of relaxation. must be said that bolton is a magician for the instrumental pastry he executes, his collages are so gentle and colourful and generally makes one float all along this placid atmosphere of made of melodic chords and sweet synth pads or delicate layers. perfect and absolute brilliant example on this is the track “leaving at dawn”, a track with some aural magic on it or the spacey nostalgia of “half remembered”, a meditative piece with beautiful sub bass accompaniment and upbeat dynamic amidst a sea of melancholic ambient with vague reminiscences from old electronica hitting one’s memory. one of the best tracks in my opinion is “salthouse” with its psych folk guitar play which brings an eerie melody that suits perfectly with the sublime ambience described by the synth layers and sounding so natural and organic even introducing the magical influence from tiny glitch particles that sounds like crickets in a bucolic landscape. this is an album that impresses with its beauty and direction, the lack of common grounds in its structures and the agile use of instrumental figments grant it a sound that is ageless and reaches all minds and hearts. recommended." - heathen harvest, 03.10