"Six albums into his partnership with the North American home of ambient and electronic music, Somewherecold Records, the unassuming composer John Lane once more peaceably reveals another finely-crafted, tactile album of subtle vision and beauty. His most successful conversion since swapping the beachcomber Pet Sounds imbued musical language of Expo (hinted at later on) to pick up the mantle of ambient and neoclassical composition under the A Journey Of Giraffes moniker, John has traversed various themes, from the love letter Kona album to Susumu Yokota to the Caucasus atmospheres of Armenia.

With various sonic, musical leitmotifs, a mystically suggestive title and references to the atavistic, to Iberian memories and delicate decorative tracery, the veiled, perfumed Empress Nouveau glides and sails, emerges and, just as subtly, disappears across dreamy spells of wistfulness, promise and the intriguing; a voyage, but not necessarily a linear journey.

Imbued by a suffusion of influences, most notably Harold Budd and Susumu Yokota (once more) but also Kazumichi Komatsu, Sakamoto & Sylvain, Andrew Heath and Eno, Lane spins, weaves and spindles the essence of place and time; stirring up dulcimer-like tones of the Orient, a hand-ringing school (could also be a call to prayer, or assembly point prompt, perhaps the intermission signal at the opera or theatre) bell, or softly evoking a South American wilderness.

Classical tones comfortably sit with the synthesized and crystalized as lightly patterned motifs, bulb-like notes and pizzicato strings resonate, and melodious flakes fall. Amongst that soft, occasionally chiming and sparkling, musicality you can detect the odd passage of saxophone, a diaphanous music box, burbled and wobbly bubbles, tine-like plucks of what could be a mbira, Mosquito Coast pan-piped mysteries, the Baroque and a chirping, chattering, knee-rubbing chorus of insects. With a surprising evocation of John’s seashells gathering Brian Wilson inspired Expo incarnation from a near decade ago, ‘Little Flowers On A Stone’ has a real touch of The Wonderments and Van Dyke Parks about it, albeit stripped of those lush vocal harmonies.

On an even keel throughout, whether that’s giving a soundtrack to the memories of traveling to the quaint Alicante city/municipality of Elda for instance, or, referencing the female chemist and Mesopotamian court overseer Tapputi, whose name can be found etched on a 1200 B.C. cuneiform tablet, Empress Nouveau remains an ocean-liner serenely floating across a milk sea and vaporous waves. But then there are also a number of allusions to the artisan craft of pottery and ornamentation (‘Bamboo Majolica’ and ‘Baroque Filigree’) to be found in the melodic ether and peaceful motions of this gentle traverse. This could itself be a metaphor for John’s own applied craftsmanship in carefully and artfully composing such effective quality ambient and neoclassical stirrings.

This is yet another essential album from one of the best artists working in this field of subtle, sometimes breathtaking and sublime, exploration – although this is experimenting without sounding like you’re experimenting, if that makes sense. It’s a joy to experience."
monolithcocktail.com/2023/03/23/our-daily-bread-565-a-journey-of-giraffes-empress-nouveau/
~ Dominic Valvona

“Tapputi,” one of the tracks off of Baltimore native, John Lane’s long-running ambient, electronic project, A Journey of Giraffes’ latest album, Empress Nouveau, refers to a well-regarded woman (to some considered a goddess) who is thought to be the first recorded chemist—a perfume maker—from Babylonian Mesopotamia, circa 1200 BC. On the front of his latest album, fitting this theme, is a colorful bottle of perfume.

The songs with their mystique and airy quality, made up of bells, and flutes, and breathy synthesizer, and plucked strings, are something like an aural perfume, something to beautify the atmosphere, bring cheerfulness and brightness to your day. The first track, in fact, is called, “Zinu,” which is a Muslim name which means “cheerful” or “pretty.”

Each of the tracks transports you to a world, often a non-American world, (with titles like “Afternoon at Elda,” the seventh biggest city in Spain, and “Bamboo Majolica,” a type of pottery popularized in Spain and brought to England,) so that you don’t just travel great distances in your headphones with his almost alien, often “Eastern” tones, but in your imagination, as well.

All of the songs (minus the first) are relatively short, playing both to our limited American attention spans and working to develop the plot, with each new song. Whoever this “new princess” is, or whether it’s some sort of feminine archetype (in our age, in which gender is more fluid, being defined and redefined all the time), there is a depth and a beauty and a culture to the music and the unfolding story.

“Bubble Credo,” for example, (a song that actually has bubble noises in it,) begs the question, is what we believe at the present moment going to buoy us or pop like a bubble. And how will we remake ourselves from there? With the titles and evocative music, there is a great openness to interpretation, and sitting down with Lane discussing the album would be a grand voyage, for sure. Let it be enough to say, that this album pleases, like perfume. It is New Age music with an ear towards experimentation, and any fan of ambient music, I think, would consider it a treat"
prismreviews.wordpress.com/2023/04/02/a-journey-of-giraffes-empress-nouveau/
~ Greg

"A Journey of Giraffes is a solo project from Baltimore musician John Lane (EXPO). Lane has been prolific in his output. Empress Nouveau, the subject of today’s review, is Lane’s sixth release from the project since 2019. Ambient music often struggles to balance musical dynamism and movement with a meditative tone. On Empress Nouveau, Lane leans heavily toward the more dynamic and melodic side of ambient music, using streamlined melodies and brief songlengths alongside a wide variety of neoclassical, New Age, jazz, and electronic instrumentation to craft a relaxing release that never feels static.

Ambient music often commits to longform tracks and consistent tonalities. Empress Nouveau takes an alternate approach, with most of the record’s fourteen tracks spanning between 90 seconds and three minutes. However, the record opens with its longest offering: “Ztnu”. Most of the nearly six minute track is based on a repeating harp motif, but is expanded upon with some unique instrumental choices such as what I believe is a saxophone and a mallet instrument. While an outlier in length, this opener establishes a unique, late ’80s ambient production style that is consistent throughout the record.

Shorter track lengths are used to cover a great deal of ground on Empress Nouveau. Previously released track “Little Flower on A Stone” uses string pads and plucks and occasional voiceover samples to flesh out a recurring key motif. “Ambient Gold Fudge” utilizes many New Age soundscapes and swells as the basis for the track, creating an atmosphere that would not be out of place on a meditation or acupuncture playlist. Elsewhere, “Every Swan Goes Until Its Gone” uses piano and upright bass as a fresh and jazzy texture. “Baroque Filigree” incorporates instrumentation from all over the world to create fantastical soundscapes that could suite a video game or a guided meditation. “Bubble Credo” adds some saturation to the mix, alongside a perhaps too on-the-nose field recording of bubbling water for a track that comes dangerously close to cheesey territory. Nonetheless, even on a track like this, Lane shows a strong command of creating complementary sonic textures.

As the album unfolds, so too does a pattern – a recurring motif, often on keys or harp, extrapolated or improvised upon with various melodic and percussive instruments for the duration of the piece. However, it’s difficult to critique this approach for being repetitive, especially in a genre that is based much more on texture and tone than melodic development.

With his outlet A Journey of Giraffes, John Lane demonstrates his ability to create variety in a minimalist medium like ambient music, which is no small feat. The mixture of brief track lengths and instrumental variety effectively supports this goal. Yet, despite this variety, much of the music here feels constrained by the tropes of ambient music from days and decades past. Building on self-identified influences like Harold Budd, Susumu Yokota, Kazumichi Komatsu, Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian, Andrew Heath, and Brian Eno is a respectable approach.

Nonetheless, I would be interested to hear A Journey of Giraffes move forward musically into some more adventurous and innovative territory, especially six albums into the project. With that said, if you’re looking for some consistent, calm ambient music grounded in influences from some giants of the genre, Empress Nouveau will offer you a gentle and enjoyable journey."
everythingisnoise.net/reviews/a-journey-of-giraffes-empress-nouveau/
~ Landon Turlock

"Magic filters through the delicate spaces of Empress Nouveau like light refracting through a prism onto a gently flowing stream. Dulcimer-like tones create pointillist patterns, spaces where soft movements blend into the emotional undercurrent. Additions of flute, kaval, and saxophone broaden the sonic horizons, bringing out organic timbres to fill in the shaded details. Over a lush landscape, through fantastical forests and crystalline fields, A Journey of Giraffes leaves a narrative trail, leading us toward the magical heart of Empress Nouveau. Each vignette is a small world of its own, and together a playful, joyous universe emerges where we’re welcomed with open arms. This is such a beautiful album."
foxydigitalis.zone/2023/04/19/the-capsule-garden-vol-2-14-april-19-2023/
~ Brad Rose