Album: There Are No Graves Here
Release Date: November 18, 2020
Genre: Ambient
There Are No Graves Here is the sophomore release by Saskatchewan artist Patient Hands, which is a solo project from ambient songwriter Alexander Stooshinoff. This follows his 2019 debut release Stoic which was re-released on a Japanese label Moorworks. This release would have coincided with a 13 date tour of Japan. There Are No Graves Here is a record of musical truths for heartbreak and homelessness, dying mothers, and all the ambiguity.
The album title came from a recording that a professor of Stooshinoff’s played in class. “I heard the line”, says Stooshinoff, “there are no graves here,” and it stuck with me. The idea of ‘no grave’ became a metaphor for feeling like I had no place to bury the past. The past was constantly alive.”
I felt super relaxed when sitting down to hear this album. When I have had a bad day, I am able to just put this on and all the stress goes away. However, it also has the feeling of the last thing I’m going to hear before I die. The tracks that stood out to me were the title track and “Dinner” because it showed what a day in the life of a family goes through when a loved one is laid to rest.
The album gives a sort of vulnerability that not very many albums I have heard in the ambient music world give off. The albums I have heard are really great pieces of music that are good for when I need to take my mind to a different place when I need to get away but this puts me at ease like everything is going to be okay. This exceeds the foreboding sophomore slump, it is an impressive second album.