Ambient Reviews
12 Ambient records in the Certified Archive. Every one of them earned five rainbow thumbs-up, because we only publish reviews of records we think are great — so treat this page as a listening list rather than a ranking. Newest first.
![Olùsìn [Worshippers] by Ibukun Sunday — cover art](/covers/ibukun-sunday-olusin-worshippers.jpg)
Ibukun Sunday's 'Olùsìn [Worshippers]' Turns Devotion Into a Sound You Can Sit Inside
The Nigerian-born, UK-based producer and violist's Phantom Limb debut is eight pieces of ambient music with a specifically devotional charge — closer to a room lit by candles than to any post-Eno chill-out lineage. The Quietus named it Album of the Week.
Sarah Davachi's 'The Will of Tongues' Is a Cathedral You Can Actually Live In
Davachi's triple LP for her own Late Music imprint — over two hours across thirteen pieces, made with historical pipe organs, a period-instrument choir, and a string trio commissioned by EMPAC and Louth Contemporary Music Society — is a culminating work by one of the most patient composers of her generation.
Lusine's 'Melting Days' Is an Ambient Record That Lets Itself Get Lost on Purpose
The latest from Seattle producer Jeff McIlwain, out August 21st on Ghostly International. Ten tracks built around grief, with saxophone from Bryan Manzo and percussion from longtime collaborator Trent Moorman. Bandcamp Daily made it Album of the Day.
Melaina Kol's 'Okay that's a great idea because if I do that then' Builds a Sound Bath Out of Harp, Cello and an MPC
Logan Hornyak's fourth Melaina Kol LP and his debut for Philadelphia's Julia's War Recordings. Nine tracks of looped harp and cello, chopped vocals from Lowertown's Olivia O., and a house-adjacent pulse holding it all together. Made on a laptop and an MPC by a guy who taught himself two orchestral instruments to get here.
Cloud Canyons Stretch 70 Minutes Into a Single, Hypnotic Held Breath
An Italian quartet's second full-length is a 70-minute trance state built from analogue synths, mantra-like layered vocals, and a patience most electronic records twice as short don't have. Deep-catalog Bandcamp obscurity that deserves way more ears.
Beacon's 'How drie a Cinder' Turns Heartbreak Into Quiet Storm Perfection
Beacon self-released what critics are already calling a career best, and it's easy to hear why. This is a breakup album that says almost nothing directly and communicates everything anyway, through space, restraint, and rhythm that never raises its voice.
Roy Montgomery & Martha Skye Murphy's 'Nebular' Is Too Beautiful to Pull Apart
A New Zealand guitar legend and a London vocalist built this record remotely, and you'd never guess it. Five tracks of shimmering, celestial atmosphere that reward getting lost in them.
Hana Stretton's 'tiarn' Turns Field Recordings Into Something Sacred
Released on the tiny Brierfield Flood Press, Stretton's new record wraps eleven folk songs in field recordings of birds, wind, and waves, with voices layered into rounds and unison hums. Bandcamp Daily called it a portrait of ecological grief that never loses its warmth.
Patrick Belaga's 'Solar Calf' Turns Video Game Nostalgia Into Gorgeous Minimalism
The LA cellist and composer behind 2021's 'Blutt' goes self-released and self-directed, fusing American minimalism with the restless wandering feeling of an open-world soundtrack. Gorgeous, strange, and completely his own.
sachi's mirror's 'Talking in a Different Way' Is a Woozy, Gorgeous Spell
A 10-track spell of moody sampled textures, gossamer strings, and looped field recordings, out on the tiny ambient-tape institution Constellation Tatsu. Introspective without ever going cold.
Auscultation's 'IV' is a Fog-Bound Masterpiece of Dub-Wise Ambient Techno
Joel Shanahan turns long Pacific Northwest winters into iridescent, dub-soaked techno. Icy bangers and hushed reverie in equal measure. Isolation has rarely sounded this beautiful.
Ana Roxanne's 'Poem 1' Says Everything With Almost Nothing
Sparse piano, hushed whispers, jazz-brushed drums. Ana Roxanne strips everything to the studs and the result is remarkably devastating — stark music that sticks like a pop hook.