ACL 2025 ~ Winter Music Preview

Ambient & Drone

Happy New Year! We’re not wasting any time, as winter is already ten days old and the first big release day of the year is only two days away. This is already shaping up to be one of the best winter music slates we’ve ever heard, with incredible albums released in every genre. It’s an encouraging sign that 2025 might turn out, in the words of Tori Amos, to be “a pretty good year.” At the very least, we’ll have some good music to accompany us as we huddle around the fire or venture out into the cold. And for those who love adventure, who find new energy in mountains and snowdrifts, we have music for you too: something for everybody as we turn the page of the new year. We begin today with quietude, then nudge our way into noise. Ring out the old, ring in the new!

Ambient

Whitelabrecs has huge plans for winter, including a brand new imprint and a wide array of releases, many publicly unannounced. We can, however, tell you about Sleeplaboratory 5.0, the continuation of the label’s flagship series. With artists both famous and new, the compilation seeks to work as a sleep aid, its cover (pictured above) as blue as the January snow (January 10). Then on January 18, Calm Pieces releases Singles, featuring re-recorded versions of earlier tracks, intended to bring peace to troubled souls. To a similar end, Kilometre Club will be releasing overnight, an 84-track “continuous sleep album,” this Friday; between this and the release above, no one should have insomnia this month (Imaginary North, January 3). The LINE imprint is preparing two releases for January. First up is the reunion of William Basinski + Richard Chartier on Aurora Terminalis, whose electronic pulses bleed through the ambient skin (January 10). Then on January 31, the label unveils a remastered version of Steve Roden‘s Forms of Paper in conjunction with Mexico’s Aurora Central Records, the first time the release will appear on tape and vinyl.

Two great musical forces unite on Fragments as Joachim Spieth | Warmth bring to the table all they have learned as the leaders of the Affin, Archives and FAINT labels. The music and cover are suitably wintry, awash in billows of electronic sound (Affin, January 10). more eaze & claire rousay present an unusual Americana on no floor, which seems like a dusty Texas dream, melodies sinking into soundscapes as time and place distort (Thrill Jockey, March 21). Sarah Pagé and Patrick Graham also turn to the experimental side on Littoral States, an album rich in hue, thanks to the presence of harp, bass koto, sarangi, waterphone, hamon and nano garden (Envision, January 24). Harpist Alanna Thornburgh investigates the folklore and mythology of rural Ireland on Shapeshifter, which should appeal to fans of The Secret of Kells (February 12).

The prolific Maps and Diagrams resurfaces on Gleichstrom, a Handstitched* release graced by lovely, handmade, collaged covers (January 11). Erik Klinga‘s Elusive Shimmer, the first in a planned trilogy, celebrates light in all of its permutations. The music does indeed shimmer, thanks to the pipe organ and Buchla 200 that provide its tone (thanatosis, January 24). Will Samson retreated to a secluded spot in Almada to record the intimate loops and melodies of Songs of Beginning and Belonging. The process yields a warm, quiet album, one that eases its way into the consciousness (Dauw, January 31).

Robert Farrugia‘s Natura Maltija is the original score to a Maltese nature documentary; the music is perfectly suited to this purpose, placid as an undisturbed sea (Phantom Limb, January 17). Aquatic soundscapes populate Kosmologic Research Society‘s Inner | Outer, which often sounds like deep ocean pings and the pressure clicks of a hull (Confused Machines, January 15). Matt McBane‘s Buoy is also connected with nature, its combination of violin and synth evocative of documentary scores, albeit without accompanying film (February 1).

Park Jiha showcases traditional Korean instruments such as Piri, Sa enghwang and Yanggeum on All Living Things, a life-affirming set that exudes hope and authenticity (Glitterbeat, February 14). On Six Waves, Thierry David delves into “sonic reverberated sculptures” with the aid of languid, exploratory guitar (A Train Entertainment, January 17). Esbe‘s folk-tinged Mountain Aires is inspired by mountain views around the world. The acoustic guitar set is released February 11, National Guitar Day. Nylon and electric guitar forge a connection on Saudade as Jonny Fryer contemplates themes of childhood and simplicity (Trestle, January 10).

As an audio-visual artist, øjeRum often pairs his albums with books. On the heels of last month’s IIKKI Books release comes A Juxtaposition of Different Realities, which pairs music and collaged art, lovingly presented by Cyclic Press (January 24). Shane Aspegren is another artist releasing a book and album this winter, this one concentrating on photography and impressionistic music. The dialogue samples of emblems of transmuting heat conjure memories of The Orb (January 31). Anna Papij takes the physical format one step further, releasing Interstellar Wandering in conjunction with a photo zine and RPG. While listening, playing and reading, one can imagine “life on a spaceship, weaving through nebulae, refuelling at floating stations” (January 31).

One knows an artist has reached the big time when they offer caps and jumpers along with their music. These choices accompany When Things Are Hollow No Tomorrow, a four-LP box set that expands upon Pye Corner Audio‘s original releases while adding a wealth of new material (Lapsus, February 7). Megafauna grows in the electronic-ambient garden, with some tracks tilting one way and others another. I Owe This Land a Body even contains abrasion as vocals poke through the soil on the penultimate track (January 3). In like manner, Rontronik alternates between ambient and electronic tracks on Zero Nine, although all seven tracks are movements in the larger piece. The clear vinyl rests nearly invisibly against the mountains (Tygr Rawwk, January 31).

dream or memory? asks Missing Scenes in the most ambient manner possible. The ambient-electronic hybrid is inspired by Akira Kurosawa and includes field recordings from Vancouver and neighboring areas (Varia, January 10). Expanding on the theme of memory are two acts with similar names: Memory Scale with Chapter Five, which incorporates the artist’s love for IDM (Audiobulb, January 18) and Memory Pearl with Cosmic-Astral, which incorporates jazz sax and seeks to recreate therapeutic experiments with music and LSD (Boiled, January 31).

Olga Anna Markowska‘s ISKRA rests right on the border between ambient and drone, so we’re putting it in the middle of our preview; but it could just as easily land in Modern Composition. The multi-instrumentalist uses zither, cello, loop and voice to create a mood that descends on the listener like fog (Miasmah, January 31). The gorgeous yet morose the closer we are to dying accomplishes a similar feat, as bleakness + beauty [in north wales] manages to tug at the heart in a manner unusual for ambient music. One might credit the strings or the authentic history of loss (Ombrelle Concrete, January 3).

Drone

We’ve grown accustomed to Room40 leading the pack in this arena, not only in volume but in proactivity. Even so, we’re amazed that nine albums have already been put up for pre-order. The fun starts this Friday with Ian Wellman‘s Can You Hear the Street Lights Glow, which began with fascination of mercury vapor street lights and expanded to investigations of other urban sounds, from gas pipes to sidewalk grates (January 3). Then it’s a 20th-anniversary edition of Zane Trow‘s For Those Who Hear Actual Voices, a tribute to working in the late night hours (January 17). A week later, 400 Lonely Things releases the haunted Children of Eidolon, which does contain actual voices and was chosen by Lawrence English from two decades of recordings (January 24). Then English himself offers Even the Horizon Knows Its Bounds, a thoughtful meditation graced by pensive piano (January 31). Flip the calendar to February, and we find Ken Ikeda with the avian and Lomante-inspired Sacred Offering, a work of sonic and spiritual awe (February 7). Valentine’s Day brings Amby Downs‘ kinjarling studies: soundtracks (five years on), a collection of film soundtracks, laden with birds and bells. On the same day, Room40 releases the percussive The Stars Are Very Far Away From All This, an active single mic set from Benjamin Fulwood. Spyros Polychronopoulos then offers Void, the polar opposite of sound, restrained and elongated (February 28). The month ends with J.WLSN‘s The Rush, which in contrast to its title seems in no hurry at all, content to arrive when it arrives (February 28).

In addition to the øjeRum project above, Cyclic Press is also releasing Ascend, a 176-page collection of dark art by Nihil with an accompanying sooundtrack by raison d’être, titled Cambrium. It’s already shaping up to be a great year for physical packaging, and we can’t wait to see more! (January 24). On Tattoos and Other Markings, violinist Thea Farhadian pays tribute to Armenian women murdered in death marches. It’s not an easy listen, nor is it meant to be. Integrating Armenian field recordings and folk song in her compositions, the artist reframes her heritage (Other Minds, January 10). AMULETS goes Not Around But Through on a set that delves into trauma, facing the demons in order to vanquish them. Ambience and shoegaze are equal partners in the battle (Beacon Sound, February 21).

Pierre Gerard‘s Full Yellow Cylinder often borders on the motionless, with only slight variations in tone. But listen over time, and one will be able to discern the movement. After all, the label is Moving Furniture (January 31). Avidly experimental and occasionally touching upon noise, David Wallraf‘s Crudeltá Necessaria cuts the danger with operatic voice, producing an intriguing clash of tones (Karlrecords, February 7). Liminal States, a posthumous work from Peter Rehberg, is a gorgeous theatre soundtrack made for Icelandic choreographer Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir. The album completes a trilogy and calls us back to the work of this stellar modular composer (Editions Mega, January 31). Geologist and D.S. offer A Shaw Deal on Drag City, filling the grooves with waves of guitar and meditative shimmer. The two go way back to Animal Collective, but this album is its own phylum (January 31).

Being Strangers‘ Concrete Dreams of Sound asks, “What could music be if it were made of architecture?” In this case, the answer is drone; but the textures suggest the pouring of concrete, the assembly of walls and ceilings. Appropriately, the album is issued on Built Sound (January 24). Father and son Thibault Mechler, Thierry Mechler team up for All Vanished Forms, blending pipe organ and electronics to produce “an architectural synthesis.” Partially recorded in cathedrals, the album references the holy without specifically embracing it (January 31). Sphaîra reflects Sara Persico‘s visit to Tripoli’s famous Experimental Theatre, a dome with extraordinary acoustic properties. Through voice, instrument and reverberation, she finds new power in the ancient and abandoned (Subtext, February 4).

(Richard Allen)