Academy of Light with Seemway, Whatever Heaven & Finnish Postcard

Safe Travels Presents

Academy of Light

Academy of Light is a Los Angeles-based ambient ensemble founded by songwriter and producer Ryan Pollie. Taking inspiration from the improvisational philosophies of German composer Peter Michael Hamel, curiosity sat at the forefront of each of the group’s nascent recording sessions. “I think we created a place to visit rather than an album of songs,” Pollie shared. Open Air, the first release from Academy of Light, delineates that sense of ephemeral beauty as a single, 40-minute progression of rapturous sonic inquiries set to a droning backdrop. Void of overdubs, the track’s innocence is preserved in the wonderment and spontaneity of the recording.

On the surface, Open Air is a sparkling soundtrack suited for all forms of cosmic contemplation. A deeper examination reveals a raw and shapeshifting spectacle. Unforeseen harmonies arrive subtly from unexpected places, quietly converging in vibrational agreement. Percussion showers rain over a canvas of dreamy synthesizers and evanescent piano arrangements. Martial drumming punctuates the serenade of humming bells and bowls. Burbling basslines intermingle with transient spells of flute, while timely strings sing the language of stars.

With more material from the recording sessions forthcoming, Open Air deems Academy of Light an institution in which rhythm rules over reason, relinquishing the formalities of modern song, conjuring a world in which all are invited to exist in direct communion with light.

Seemway (EP Release)

Seemway is a project made up of four to five (and sometimes more) friends. They started in the Bay Area in 2014 and now live all over California.

Their music tends toward refracted pop. These songs are not not indebted to the lineages of psychedelia, garage, krautrock, and electronic, but songs mostly in service to the initial and oftentimes accidental improvisations which birthed them. Every one of their songs has evolved through dozens of iterations, iterations they’ve played and unplayed time and time again.

Recorded up and down California over the last few years, their new EP As It Stands is a long exposure snapshot of the band.

Whatever Heaven

(New Balance + La Bonte)

Finnish Postcard

Finnish Postcard is an impressionistic rock duo from Los Angeles whose songs feel plucked from the ether. Both successful songwriters in their own right, Finnish Postcard is Trey Shilts and Leo Dolan.

Born out of a desire to make more oblique, shrouded music without sacrificing hooks or emotional weight, they have self-released two double singles: “Polluted Water / Highway” and “Monuments / Leaving Home”. Finnish Postcard’s music burns with a strange bright light.

21+

Resident

428 S Hewitt St

Los Angeles, CA