artist: Ishq country of origin: UK style(s): Ambient, new age, environmental, spacemusic, soundscape essential releases: Orchid (2001, Daikin/Interchill) Sama (2010, Virtual World/Electronic Soundscapes)

Created in an idyllic English countryside setting near St Ives in Cornwall, the music of Ishq (Matt Hillier and vocalist Jacqueline Kersley) has, among its many good qualities, achieved a rare feat in ambient music: making new age sound credible.

Hillier's art comes from a deep spiritual perspective which extends through his music, the cover designs and the independent philosophy of his record label Virtual World. You may find the album notes, for example, pretentious. Yet the music speaks for itself. The two Ishq albums gathered here fulfill the transcendent and calming potential that new age and relaxation music claims for its own but almost never delivers. New age signatures such as nature samples, celestial synths and airy wordless female vocals are among Ishq's greatest strengths rather than a smokescreen to disguise a musical vacuum.

Beyond these overtones Ishq's music is also quite eclectic. There's elements of classic loop, drone and environmental ambience ala Brian Eno, as well as the early spacemusic of the Berlin-school bands and occasional ambient dance beats and exotic percussion. "Hippie techno" is one rather silly label that's nonetheless stuck, corralling Ishq into the same pastoral psychedelia as early Orb, Steve Hillage and classic Silent Records.

Matt Hillier is an unusually gifted producer. His subtle, painstaking sound design gives the music a distinctive clarity, a purity, a sense of place that's almost hyper-real at times. There are only two "official" Ishq albums of new music released so far and both are highly recommended.

Orchid is a remarkable debut. After an almost conventional start with the loping chillout breakbeats of "Skyblue", the album settles into a contemplative space with the beguiling "Yu", a kind of conversation between harp, sighing keys and the rich sound of Kersley's processed vocal samples. The use of pauses and silence is striking; the effect is like sitting in a huge, lush, garden and watching the life around you. The pulsing drone pieces "Opal" and "Daisy" also evoke an outdoor space but this time it's more like an alien jungle. Beneath the sparkling colours and strange beauty of the scenery is a mood that's a little ominous and tantalisingly unresolved.

The best music on Orchid is saved for last. "Bhakti" and "Arc" are essentially one track consisting of two movements and a coda. Below is a strong, shadowy chord progression and fretless bass snaking around a sleepy tribal beat; hovering above is a rich spectral drone and fleeting vocal phrases. As it spirals ever deeper into ethereal sound the music eventually dissolves into pure atmosphere, before re-emerging into a wordless vocal passage of staggering, weeping beauty. If this 17-minute masterpiece doesn't move you, its unlikely anything else in the genre will.

The follow-up album Sama was a long time coming - nine years - and it doesn't disappoint.

To their credit the duo have chosen the harder road of not mimicking the music of Orchid. Instead, Sama presents a more consistently landscaped style of ambience. Except for the the crisp, hypnotic groove of the 15-minute "Ursavatai" the individual sounds are fuzzier in the mix and the melodic lines arc across even bigger spaces. The 10-minute title track is Ishq's most openly loving piece to date. It unfolds like the new dawn set to music despite no obvious sound effects or a signpost in the track title. Upon the exquisitely calming surface the surging chords rise and fall like the deepest breaths, the theremin melody embracing your consciousness like a feather brushing on skin. The album is still tonal and undeniably pretty, with echoes of Global Communication and Tetsu Inoue in the mix.

The compilation Lotus (2010) collects exclusive tracks that were contributed to different various-artist compilation albums over the previous decade. It's non-essential but still worth getting if you love Orchid and Sama.

Matt Hillier has many other albums in his discography including some collaborations with partners other than Jacqueline Kersley. If you're happy to go without discernable melodies or even any tonality at all, you may want to check out his "pure" soundscape music released as limited edition albums on his various sublabels. A couple are released as Ishq (it's confusing, I know), while others appear under pseudonyms such as Elve.

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