Archive Drive by zarr.

Most artists/producers can probably attest to the fact that their hard drives are filled with ideas that are either (almost) complete or are barely more than a few bars in length. Sometimes I write with purpose, however many other times I write at random dependent on my mood and see if I land on anything that sounds remotely interesting or unique to me. During these sessions, I sometimes stumble upon an idea that I develop in the hope that it might lead to a gem. Some of these tracks have almost made it over the line but not quite, owing to falling out of love with a track’s vibe or mix over time.

Probably 90%+ of all of the ideas generated in my creative sessions are rejected to the archive. Some have been dismantled and recycled into other tracks but most are just collecting dust. The eclectic mix of tracks in this compilation represent the more ‘finished’ tracks (probably 10% of the 90%) of those archived ideas. They would otherwise lay dormant on my hard drive and would never see the light of day. They seem to document my moods at various points in time, which is almost painfully audible.

Creating a fully body of finished, finalised work (such as any of my previous formal releases), whilst extremely enjoyable, requires a lot of work beyond the scope of merely writing and producing music and can sometimes feel a little draining (usually owing to perfectionism creeping through). I never go into a music writing session with the sole aim of attempting to produce a coherent and definite release, more so for the relief and catharsis the overall process provides me. As such, all of the unfinished, un-finalised music on my hard drive is there for a reason and represents a point in time that I needed music creation; for its enjoyment and psychologically restorative purposes and to further practice the more technical aspects of production (which I love).

Why now? I’ve recently fully upgraded my system and many/most of the project sessions will be lost owing to inevitable software/hardware compatibility issues, never to be worked on again, so this is an opportunity to mark their inception, even just for entirely nostalgic reasons. I also want to let go of these tracks and start afresh to progress forward with my sound.

Written over the past five years (the duration of ownership of my previous system), it’s interesting to see the seemingly unrelated directions that I’ve gone down in my pursuit of creativity. 

These tracks are (obviously) unfinished are relatively unmixed, vary in quality and are in their last exported state. They’ve been briefly mastered for level-balancing purposes for this compilation.

Spanning over two and a half hours of listening time and totalling twenty seven tracks, within this compilation both electronic (tracks 1 - 20) and ambient (21 - 27) tracks can be explored.

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zarr. is an ambient/ ambient electronic artist from the UK, releasing music across the atmospheric spectrum.


Most known for the ambient albums cloudform and sojourn, zarr. paints lush and enveloping soundscapes which afford the listener a space to drift.

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