Michael Hix, founder of the renowned Nashville Ambient Ensemble, has unveiled his new solo project under the moniker Wonderful Aspiration of the Source. 

While still keeping one foot within the general ambient genre, this project has its own unique sound and may be an entirely new genre all to itself. Out of devotion to his Buddhist path, Hix has taken on a new minimalist approach to his music, leaving behind his array of keyboards and synths in favor of his original instrument, the guitar. 

With his creative energy completely channeled through his axe, Hix created soothing, meditative soundscapes out of layers and loops of glossy-toned Telecaster B-Bender meanderings. With an instrument that is far more common in country music, the tone and textures in these cosmic pieces have a distinct warmth and pearly smoothness. This quality gives Hix’s guitar work a more sympathetic, loving sort of feel, as it glides and reverberates like a pedal steel.

Despite having used the catch-all term “ambient” earlier, the style of music presented here is far more complex and multifaceted than that. Hix coasts ever so freely between astral New Age music, atmospheric ECM jazz and devotional Carlos Santana soloing (fused with some light Frippertronics). I think you can get a little taste of most of these rather specific flavors on the album’s first single, the drifty and serene “Cadence.” You could easily tell how this was the seed that gave forth the great tree that the rest of this album grew into.

Hix had this to say about the track:

“Cadence” was one of the first songs I wrote when I started playing guitar again a couple of years ago. I was playing on a Jazzmaster at the time – the vibrato on the Jazzmaster brought out new kinds of chords and more spaciousness in my playing. It felt like I was exploring a completely new instrument in some ways, and it brought a lot of inspiration. It made me realize that the particularities of a specific guitar can bring out unique nuances in your playing that may not occur on other guitars. The same was definitely true of the B-bender Telecaster that I ended up using for this recording.“

“Cadence” became a model for my songwriting on this album. Many of the songs, like “Cadence,” start with a round of sparse chords which then loops with more dense melodies and harmonies weaving in for a few layers afterward. “Cadence” helped me establish the looping concept that ended up being the backbone for all of the songs.“

Give it a listen here:

Fans of jazz, ambient, solo guitar music, country and minimal kosmische musik will all find something to deeply adore about this record. Click here to preorder your copy today ahead of its 9/19 release date, and may it bring your days peace and quiet joy.

-KH