5 great ambient albums you might have missed from 2023
Greetings and welcome to Radio Amor!
Now that I’ve successfully completed the rite of passage that is naming my substack after an album that inspired it, some of the recent paranoia surrounding the bleak future of music criticism has finally provided the push I needed to start blogging about ambient music. My hope is to post semi-frequently about some of my favorite ambient releases from the genre, both past and present, along with some occasional musings on other types of music.
As the album release calendar typically runs a bit slow in January, I like to use the month to catch up on a lot of the stuff I might have missed from the past year. I don’t know about you, but digging through the endless, outstanding year-end lists from those you trust often result in some of my most revelatory finds. The month also allows ample time for quiet contemplation, and many of the best new ambient music I’ve been digging fits nicely in this winter slumber.
Here are five ambient releases from 2023 that I’ve been digging this month:
Karen Vogt - Losing the Sea EP
The former vocalist for the Australian dream pop band Heligoland, Karen Vogt also makes dark ambient music that weaves in her ethereal vocals ala Julianna Barwick. Oohs and aahs are manipulated to resemble synthesizers, while each track finds interesting ways to create a spacious, sparse atmosphere amid Vogt’s vocal wash. As its title suggests, Losing the Sea brings to life Vogt’s longing for the sea after spending many years living inland, with its serene guitar vignettes that evoke Windy & Carl’s classic Consciousness.
What it sounds like: Hypnotic, angelic, soothing
As it comes into focus, albedo, the opening track of Richard Skelton’s fantastic 2023 album selenodesy, feels like the soundtrack to space travel gone awry. Skelton's string-driven compositions are unrelentingly cold and austere, moving the experimental musician away from his more gritty, from-the-earth output. A 2017 move to the “dark sky” region of the UK offered Skelton a new backdrop to draw inspiration from. The resulting tracks on selenodesy reflect the boundless possibilities this landscape provides, offering a sound as scary and beautiful as the vastness of space.
What it sounds like: Drony, icy, industrial, flinty
The second half of Daily Rituals’ excellent 2023 album aftersongs delivers on the promise of the artist’s name, offering what sounds like menial tasks in repetition, like on the quite literal the gradual surrender to dirt. The album is anything but routine, however, offering fluid transitions from guitar feedback and broken strums that give off William Tyler vibes to hazy synths and solemn, broken piano chords on opener wild dusk singing. aftersongs can also go spare and serene on the contemplative winter morning pastoral! or the stunning fadeout of closer filled with a great and powerful moment. It all works wonderfully, making it equally lovable in the background or with the headphones on.
What it sounds like: Insular, warm, still, doing stuff around the house
There is a stillness to Hilary Woods’ third album Acts of Light that leaves you deep in the void, but with an eerie sense of calm. Cello strings and reverb create a bleak atmosphere on compositions like Burial Rites, while operatic vocal snippets and the pitter patter of white noise emerge out of a thick fog on Wife Mother Lover Crow. None of this will make the hair stand up on your arm, though, as there is an indescribably grounded feeling to this music that sinisterly lures you in despite its warnings to keep out.
What it sounds like: Sullen, hollow, haunted
Initially improvised during a 2022 bout with covid, Kuma’s moody, eerie woodwinds that populate his latest album We Have Dark Friends offer something of an interpretation of a fever dream.
With field recordings serving as a foggy rhythmic backdrop along with woodwinds, guitars and synths, We Have Dark Friends is more varied than it seems on an initial listen. The fog - and darkness - never lifts, but there is an intense underlying pull to the album that directs you toward the inevitable light.
What it sounds like: Drone, moody, buzzy