Biography
Portland-based multi-instrumentalist and visual creator Ilyas Ahmed crafts an atmospheric, close-up strain of psychedelic folk by layering acoustic and electric guitars with harmonium, organ, tanpura, and delicate atmospheric treatments. His catalog evolved gradually across more than a decade, beginning with a run of privately issued recordings made on a remote farm in 2005 and reaching greater clarity with the 2018 album Closer to Stranger and the 2021 joint project You Can See Your Own Way Out alongside Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.
Born in Pakistan in 1974, Ahmed relocated to the United States during his teenage years and lived successively in New Jersey, Minnesota, and finally Oregon. His initial public release arrived in 2005 as the self-issued CD-R Between Two Skies, followed the next year by the additional CD-Rs Yahan Dur Wahan and Naqi. These early efforts, distinguished by his signature collage artwork, circulated widely inside the psych-folk underground, prompting wider editions on Digitalis (the reissue pairing Between Two Skies with Towards the Night) and Time-Lag (The Vertigo of Dawn). He also performed as part of the Tabernacle Hillside Singers alongside members of the Goodwillies and Arco Flute Foundation, providing support for Theo Angell’s two Digitalis releases after the latter’s time with Jackie-O Motherfucker.
Root Strata, operated by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Maxwell August Croy, issued Ahmed’s 2009 album Goner along with the limited-edition mail-order 10" Live at on Land 2009. Immune brought out a vinyl pressing of Between Two Skies/Towards the Night in 2010 and, the following year, a split 7" single pairing Ahmed with Steve Gunn. In 2011 Social Music Records released the self-titled EP by Visitor, the duo project Ahmed formed with Liz Harris of Grouper. He stayed with Immune for the next two solo records, 2012’s With Endless Fire and 2015’s I Am All Your Own, both of which adopted a more straightforward and robust sonic approach than earlier material.
MIE Music issued the self-titled Dreamboat LP in 2016, documenting Ahmed’s partnership with the analog-synthesizer-and-bass-clarinet duo Golden Retriever. The same label followed with Ahmed’s solo album Closer to Stranger in 2018, which included saxophone contributions from Golden Retriever’s Jonathan Sielaff. Subsequent auxiliary releases included the 2019 mini-album Behold Killers, a continuous 40-minute work assembled from daily improvisations in 2020, and the 2021 collaborative LP with ambient artist Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, You Can See Your Own Way Out.
Born in Pakistan in 1974, Ahmed relocated to the United States during his teenage years and lived successively in New Jersey, Minnesota, and finally Oregon. His initial public release arrived in 2005 as the self-issued CD-R Between Two Skies, followed the next year by the additional CD-Rs Yahan Dur Wahan and Naqi. These early efforts, distinguished by his signature collage artwork, circulated widely inside the psych-folk underground, prompting wider editions on Digitalis (the reissue pairing Between Two Skies with Towards the Night) and Time-Lag (The Vertigo of Dawn). He also performed as part of the Tabernacle Hillside Singers alongside members of the Goodwillies and Arco Flute Foundation, providing support for Theo Angell’s two Digitalis releases after the latter’s time with Jackie-O Motherfucker.
Root Strata, operated by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Maxwell August Croy, issued Ahmed’s 2009 album Goner along with the limited-edition mail-order 10" Live at on Land 2009. Immune brought out a vinyl pressing of Between Two Skies/Towards the Night in 2010 and, the following year, a split 7" single pairing Ahmed with Steve Gunn. In 2011 Social Music Records released the self-titled EP by Visitor, the duo project Ahmed formed with Liz Harris of Grouper. He stayed with Immune for the next two solo records, 2012’s With Endless Fire and 2015’s I Am All Your Own, both of which adopted a more straightforward and robust sonic approach than earlier material.
MIE Music issued the self-titled Dreamboat LP in 2016, documenting Ahmed’s partnership with the analog-synthesizer-and-bass-clarinet duo Golden Retriever. The same label followed with Ahmed’s solo album Closer to Stranger in 2018, which included saxophone contributions from Golden Retriever’s Jonathan Sielaff. Subsequent auxiliary releases included the 2019 mini-album Behold Killers, a continuous 40-minute work assembled from daily improvisations in 2020, and the 2021 collaborative LP with ambient artist Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, You Can See Your Own Way Out.
Albums
