Andrew Tuttle & Padang Food Tigers

A Cassowary Apart BEDROOM SUCK. DL/LP

Ambient Americana fellow travellers keep their distance. Music For Airports might have long been a conceptual reference point for ambient artists, but this balmy collaborative set takes inspiration from a very Covid-era bit of departure lounge etiquette. Last summer, Cairns Airport in Queensland instructed passengers to keep “a cassowary apart” from each other – the fierce, emu-like birds measuring roughly 1.5 metres. Safe distance is critical here, too, with Tuttle in Brisbane and the Padang Food Tigers duo in London. But the eight graceful pieces, constructed by e-mail, flow seamlessly, Tuttle’s banjo drifting in and out of heathazed digitalia in much the same way as it did on his terrific 2020 solo set, Alexandra. An impressionistic rethink of Americana predominates, not least when a lazy guitar line cuts through Broadbeach Talbot Intersection, and the beatific air is reinforced by the gentlest lap steel washes – hence the best Eno analogue for this lovely album is actually Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks.