Steve Thorne
/ Redferns
Originally published on December 10, 2020 9:44 am
Some artists veer wildly between styles from record to record. And then there are those who discover their sonic identity and stick with it, hardly straying from their one true path. Their life's work is the patient art of inflecting and perfecting.
Harold Budd belongs in this second category of artists, those for whom musical style isn't something you can put on and take off like a costume, but a truth that comes from deep within the self that you discover and distill. Over the course of his four-decade discography, Budd's music floated between ambient, minimalist composition, and dream-pop, but ultimately evaded those categories to gently assert itself as a wholly individual voice. Cherished by a devoted group of fans and admired by musical collaborators like Brian Eno, Cocteau Twins and XTC's Andy Partridge, Budd's slow, tranquil compositions centered around his own piano playing. The Los Angeles-based musician died earlier this week from complications caused by COVID-19, just a few days after testing positive. He was 84.