Can the ends ever justify the means? Take lying, for example. Are little white lies sometimes the morally correct thing to do or is it always wrong to be untruthful? Should you tell a seriously injured woman that her new-born baby was killed in the car crash that put her broken body in a hospital bed? Could you add to her physical suffering and put her through the emotional pain of hearing that news?

Perhaps Giancarlo Erra has an answer to this question. He has released a whole album of Ends and the streaming services provide the means to hear them. Several of those Ends are also on YouTube – End VII is today’s Track of the Week.

Giancarlo Erra is an Italian musician and producer now living in the UK. He writes ambient electronic music and his latest album, Ends, was released just two days ago. He describes this album as his “first full-blown foray into contemporary classical/minimalist and electronic music”.

The music recalls the tonal contemporary classical miniatures of Arvo Pärt and Max Richter, the soundtracks of Nils Frahm and Clint Mansell, and the early electronica of the likes of Roedelius and Schulze.

 – from KScope’s description of the Video

Or, to make another comparison, its mix of gently rolling piano, soft strings and subtle electronic sounds reminds Crotchety Man’s Music Appreciation Neurons of Poppy Ackroyd’s work.

The seven Ends and the supplementary Coda on the album provide the perfect welcome for a single man when he comes home at the end of a hard day and barely has enough energy to grab a beer, turn on the hi-fi and slump on the sofa until a rumbling tummy says its time to order another pizza. But let’s not be sexist. Those 7 + 1 ends work just as well for the woman juggling a career and a family when the children have gone to bed and she can, finally, put her feet up with a small glass of wine.

Whoever you are, when the End is relaxation I recommend Ends as the means.