Secret Suburbia by Empty House

Secret Suburbia was recorded between July and December 2022. The aim of the album was to make little vignettes of ambient moods that reflected where I was at the time. The titles have very little meaning, in the same way as street signs have meaning when you are aimlessly looking out of a bus window on some random jaunt. My Buddhist ideology played a significant role. There's nothing too taxing on the brain here. It's music to stare out of the windows to and count clouds or watch birds at the bottom of the garden flapping around the feeder. That's it really - Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.

reviews for Secret Suburbia

'Intriguing stuff' - Stuart Maconie Freakzone

Secret Suburbia is the kind of slow burn every crate digger needs in their collection. Drop the needle and let Laird guide you through his weird and wonderful orbit, because there is no other like it. With his Empty House project, it’s one that always changes. However, as John Peel once said of The Fall, “Always different, always the same.” That very notion could be attributed to Empty House, and with Secret Suburbia, the case remains.

Simon Kirk - Sun-13

This is another very fine solo recording by Fred Laird. He treats his influences well and mixed with the results of his own thoughts, wanderings and meditations we have an intoxicating brew of lush and imaginative ambient sounds.

Francis Comyn - Terrascope

Secret Suburbia is still music you should listen to with your eyes closed. In a near-meditative state it will bring you places. The almost complete lack of percussion creates a deep stillness in every track that reverberates a mysterious tranquility throughout the album. With my eyes closed it is like discovering a secret garden, and then discovering nine more gardens even deeper hidden within, each with their own ambience and sounds.

Secret Suburbia is another place that Fred Laird created for the listener to go to and find creativity in stillness

Jasper Hesselink - Weirdo Shrine

empty house is the solo work of Fleetwood based musician Fred Laird. Formed in March 2021, empty house is a musical project that fuses electronics, dub, drone and ambient. Buddhism, Clouds, literature, Martial Arts, sleeping all play a part in the themes of Laird's compositions.

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