Rejection can be a powerful force.

There are countless examples of artists having their work turned down, only to then assert themselves in a way that they probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for that rejection. My favourite example of this is The Residents, the anonymous Shreveport, LA group that decamped to San Francisco over half a century ago. Their first (anonymous) demo tape was sent to Warner Bros. Records and returned in the mail. The label A&R folks just addressed it to ‘The Residents’. Thus we have the foundation of one of the most enduring and expressive groups of artists you’ll ever interact with. Rejection can be a powerful force, like I said.

I was thinking about that while listening to the latest album from Neil Stringfellow’s Audio Obscura. I mean, I think about The Residents pretty much every day, but I’m talking here about rejection. Then again, I also think about that a lot.

Neil first told me about this album a while ago. It was a release he sent to Quiet Details, a label who I have the utmost admiration for. Alex Gold, who runs the label, is an absolute genius. His own music is exceptional, the creative concept behind Quiet Details is exceptional, and his mastering skills are also exceptional. Plus he’s great to go to a System7 gig with in Milton Keynes. That was a fun night.

For whatever reason, Quiet Details didn’t decide to release the album and so it languished, like a spurned lover dumped unceremoniously at a high school disco, on one of Neil’s many hard drives. Someone (possibly me, maybe some other likeminded fan of his work) encouraged him to just get it out there.

I’m glad he did. It is an absolutely beautiful body of work. It forms part of a continuum in Neil’s work of engaging with nature sounds, here using field recordings from five different countries. It also continues his shift towards classical structures and instrumentation. And so this is, undeniably, ambient music, but its phrasing and timbres are resolutely minimal. We are presented with strings, gentle, bell-like melodies, quiet tones and subtle rhythms across the entire breadth of these eight pieces.

My personal favourites come as a pair, right at the end of the album. ‘Zinc Creep aka The Old Room’ exists in a place of wonder and mystery, an organ-like suite of layered melodies giving it an austere, reverential feel. It develops slowly, eventually adding in white noise tones and a sense of disquiet to offset the clarity of the main instrument. The final track, ‘Lost Details aka Losing The Quiet War’ is the fragile embodiment of Neil’s disappointment at not getting picked to be a part of the Quiet Details series. We hear fragments of introspective piano, a well of restless, discordant sonic turbulence and rhythms that recall memories of his trippy Acid Field Recordings In Dub gem for SubExotic.

Chin up Neil – it’s another great album, and better that it’s out here in our ears and Bandcamp collections rather than sulking in a folder.

Rejected Ambient Works Vol. 1. by Audio Obscura is released November 6 2026.

Words: Mat Smith

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