Gaussian Curve: Clouds

A personal look back at an ambient classic released 10 years ago

I’m sitting on the rooftop of an Amsterdam townhouse. My friend, a lawyer whom I’d met back in my Hamburg days, lights up a joint. We haven’t seen each other in a while, now we’re overlooking the canal on a late summer morning, listening to music on a small Bluetooth speaker.

There are gentle Rhodes chords and airy synth pads, woozy electric guitar and s…