Selected Ambient Works, Volume II

Selected Ambient Works Volume II (often abbreviated as SAW2), released in 1994, is the second album by Richard D. James under his Aphex Twin moniker, and is the follow-up of 1992's Selected Ambient Works 85-92. The album peaked at #11 on the UK Albums Chart. It was number 62 on Pitchfork Media's "Top 100 Albums of the 1990s". Volume II differs significantly from the first volume in the series, in that it consists of lengthy, textured ambient compositions with minimal percussion and occasional vocal samples, in a vein similar to Brian Eno's ambient works. James described the album as being "like standing in a power station on acid" and went on to note that the sounds on record were inspired by lucid dreams, and that upon awaking, he would attempt to re-create the sounds and record them. He claimed to have natural synaesthesia, which contributed to this album.