Will Long, an American musician, writer, and photographer based in Tokyo, has received acclaim for his vast catalog of ambient and drone recordings, primarily issued under the
Celer project, as well as minimal house tracks credited to his own name. He formed
Celer in 2005 with Danielle Baquet, a musician, artist, and music therapist from California; the two eventually married. The duo released nearly two dozen homemade CD-Rs of their music, ranging from bright, minimal drones to more overwhelmingly emotive ambient compositions, often incorporating field recordings, reel-to-reel tape loops, and acoustic instruments.
Celer's self-issued albums gradually gained a cult following, and by 2009 they were mainly releasing music through a variety of international labels, including Infraction, Spekk, and Digitalis. Danielle also recorded solo material under the name
Chubby Wolf. Sadly, she died of heart failure in 2009, and most of her solo work was issued posthumously, as were several remaining recordings she made as part of
Celer.
Long remained active as
Celer, and continued to release digital albums himself, in addition to physical releases on a variety of independent labels. He launched his Two Acorns label with Generic City, a collaboration with
Yui Onodera, in 2010. After touring Japan with
Onodera, he decided to move there. After meeting singer/songwriter
Miko, the two were married, and they began releasing music together as Oh, Yoko in 2012.
Long also collaborated with
Christoph Heemann under the name Hollywood Dream Trip, in addition to releasing Berlin School-inspired solo work as Rangefinder.
In 2016,
Long began releasing material under his own name that added stripped-down house beats and poignant vocal samples to warm, rolling synth pads. Several 12" singles were released by Comatonse Recordings, each including an overdubbed version by
DJ Sprinkles (label owner
Terre Thaemlitz), and all were included on the double CD Long Trax. A few months after their release, the tracks received delayed attention from the underground dance music press, and
Long soon began recording for Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound. After the label issued
Long's remix of
Lindstrøm's "Tension" in 2017,
Long Trax 2 appeared in 2018. ~ Paul Simpson