Roy Montgomery and Martha Skye Murphy Collaborate on Ambient Album "Nebular"
"Nebular" is a collaborative album between veteran guitarist Roy Montgomery and avant-pop artist Martha Skye Murphy. The album features foggy ambient drones and wordless angelic vocals, creating a mind-meld of sound.
The album was assembled through a long-distance process, with the musicians trading audio stems across hemispheres. Their mutual appreciation for Tascam multitrack recorders helped establish a shared sonic vocabulary, enabling them to construct a dense, atmospheric wall of sound without ever sharing a physical studio space.
Montgomery's extensive history includes leading the act that released Flying Nun's inaugural single in 1981 and collaborating with Grouper in 2010. *Nebular* features extended compositions, including a 17-minute raga, and highlights Murphy's abstract, effects-heavy vocalizations, marking a notable evolution in both artists' experimental approaches.
This cross-generational, remote collaboration could influence how independent musicians approach long-distance creative partnerships. By demonstrating that a veteran experimentalist and a rising avant-pop artist can achieve a cohesive, immersive sound through digital file exchange, it may encourage others to embrace asynchronous workflows. The album's focus on wordless, ambient textures could also broaden the audience for experimental rock, potentially drawing in listeners who appreciate atmospheric soundscapes over traditional song structures.