2022 in Review: Ambient & Drone

Music can be a great companion allowing us to feel connected, comforted, and even transported through just the sounds that fill the space between our ears. From their cinematic vistas and atmospheric soundscapes to their a generous embrace of stillness, beauty, and self-reflection, the albums in this category are especially well suited to do just…

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Sound Impression: chamomile by marine eyes

In addition to being a prolific collaborator, most notably as one half of the ambient duo awakened souls alongside her husband James Bernard, and curating playlists and compilations such as Healing Together in support of mental health recovery, Cynthia Bernard has become a solo artist in her own right under the alias of marine eyes.…

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Duologue: A conversation with Jason Van Wyk

My first introduction to the music of South African producer and composer Jason van Wyk was his 2016 contribution to the Eilean Records project, an entrancingly lush foray into piano-centric post-classical electronica called Attachment. He followed the next year with the equally exquisite Opacity, this time on the venerable Home Normal imprint. Jason made a…

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PREMIERE: Near by Fortresses

In October of last year, multidisciplinary artist Sam Ashton debuted a new ambient project under the alias of Fortresses with Eve, a triptych of introspective drones that took listeners through the arc of a day spent on the streets of his hometown of London. Almost exactly a year later, he brings a similar approach to a new…

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Sound Impression: Night Songs by Awakened Souls

Humans have been using music to help themselves find peace and slumber at night for millennia. In that quest the vast majority of us rely on recordings made by others, but in the case of the husband and wife duo James and Cynthia Bernard known as Awakened Souls, they took it upon themselves to make…

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Sound Impression: La première sortie de Florina by Lamasz & Grandbruit

Continuing the first tentative steps into a new year of music, it seems fitting to focus next on the discovery of a brand new net label launched late last year by two brothers from Montreal who ambient music fans may know by their respective solo monikers of Lamasz and Grandbruit. Described as “an ambient label…

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Sound Impression: Layover by Emilía

What better way to ease into a new year of stationary traveling than to ride the oscillating waves of Layover by the Málaga-based duo of musician Lee Yi and visual artist Meneh Peh known as Emilía. Shifting from the uneasy ruminations of last year’s Spring Through a Window (and companion EP Pollinations) and the mournful…

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2021 in Review: Ambient & Drone

Music can be a great companion allowing us to feel connected, comforted, and even transported through just the sounds that fill the space between our ears. From their cinematic vistas and atmospheric soundscapes to their a generous embrace of stillness, beauty, and self-reflection, the albums in this category are especially well suited to do just…

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Sound Impression: Citation Index by Olan Mill

Whether working on his own as Olan Mill or collaboratively as part of Pausal, Ampersand, or ilm, Alex Smalley has been among the most compelling artists in the field of experimental ambient and electronic music for over a decade now. After relocating to Germany and becoming a father circa 2018, Smalley signalled a conclusion of…

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