While ambient music will never be mainstream, recent years have seen its stature grow as listeners have searched for soothing sounds online, a search which has often gone international...

01 Sheila Chandra

ABoneCroneDrone

(Real World, 1996)

Anglo-Indian Sheila Chandra started out as an actress before forming pioneering fusion band Monsoon, which blended Western and Indian pop. A switch to a more vocal-led, ambient approach saw Chandra relocate to Real World for a stunning trilogy of albums, of which this is the third – a potent mix of layered vocals, natural sounds and subtly evolving drones. It’s a record of endlessly spiralling mystique.

02 Arushi Jain

Under the Lilac Sky

(Leaving Records, 2021)

Vocalist and ‘modular synthesist’ Arushi Jain combines classical Hindustani and electronic music on this, her beguiling debut. Jain’s vocals are captivating, sweet and ringing, set free to fly through slowly unfolding washes of synth. Hints of sitar and other instruments flutter around the edges, but it’s the multi-faceted bloom of interlacing electronic rhythms, entwined around echoing voices, which form the living core of this impressive set.

03 Alice Coltrane

Kirtan: Turiya Sings

(Impulse!, 2021)

Alice Coltrane features on many wonderful jazz records, both as a solo artist and ensemble player. In later years, she devoted more time to spiritual pursuits, and it is from this period that this album originates. Initially recorded in 1981, mixes of the tracks were later discovered by Alice’s son, Ravi, and only recently released. With just voice and organ, Alice sings Hindu devotional songs in Sanskrit. The results are deeply moving.

04 Ronu Majumdar & Abhijit Banerjee

Lady Astride the Tiger

(Water Lily Acoustics, 2000)

An acknowledged master of the bansuri (side-blown Indian flute) and collaborator with the likes of Ravi Shankar and RD Burman, Ronu Majumdar has recorded many fine albums and film soundtracks. Here, he features alongside percussionists Abhijit Banerjee and Puvalur Srinivasan across four extended tracks of graceful, floating, musical explorations which drift slowly on soothing currents. Delicate hand drums provide a meditative counterpoint to Majumdar’s flittering, flowing style.

05 Susumu Yokota

Sakura

(Leaf, 2000)

Japan’s Susumu Yokota is as well known for his highly praised house music albums as his ambient recordings. On the ambient side, Sakura is a great place to start. Built upon delicately layered sound textures, Yokota tastefully samples fellow ambient greats, including Steve Reich and Harold Budd, plus jazz fusion group Return to Forever, at times injecting a likeable element of whimsy.

06 KMRU

Jar

(Seil Records, 2020)

Kenyan-born, Berlin-based Joseph Kamaru, aka KMRU is part of an exciting new generation of African artists exploring the potentialities of ‘naturalistic’ music. Utilising field recordings, Kamaru unravels delicate streams of deep synths wondrously fused with birdsong and ‘found sounds.’ So naturally do these strands fit together on this entrancing record that the listener begins to forget any idea of separation.

07 Biosphere

Substrata

(All Saints, 1997)

Geir Aule Jenssen, aka Biosphere, hails from Tromsø, situated within the Arctic Circle, and here he incorporates sounds of nature from this awesome setting to create a frozen audio landscape of primal, often unsettling, power. There’s beauty to be found too – a kind of inexorable cosmic pattern, at times almost overwhelming in its horizonless reach. Off-kilter vocals and strange, rattling percussion add to the sombre majesty.

08 Laraaji

Ambient 3: Day of Radiance

(Editions EG, 1980)

Hailing from Philadelphia, US, Laraaji (moniker of Edward Larry Gordon), studied classical composition, and was an early experimenter in adapting physical instruments to the electronic medium. Brian Eno produced this album – one of Eno’s first ventures into the ambient field. Cascades of instruments form wave after wave of shifting sound. Sometimes harsh, sometimes enticingly fragile, a remarkably polished and fascinating work.

09 Dead Can Dance

The Serpent’s Egg

(4AD, 1988)

With entries varying from medieval folk song to icy dark wave pop and art rock, Australian duo Dead Can Dance surely possess one of the finest and most diverse back catalogues of any musical entity. They are on top form on this hypnotic album, recorded in an apartment block in the Isle of Dogs. Sparkling keyboards and ominous voices circle around echoing spaces of limitless night. A stunning collection of tracks.

10 Al Gromer Khan

Space Hotel

(New Earth, 1996)

German sitar player and composer Al Gromer Khan is a polymath, embracing the worlds of music, literature, poetry and visual art. Born in the foothills of Bavaria and absorbing sounds from Morocco and India, his music also embraces several genres, and this ambient album stands as one of his best. With delicate tonal shifts and bright points of light, Khan paints warm and inviting soundscapes of admirable nuance.

This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Songlines. Never miss an issue, read the magazine online – subscribe today: magsubscriptions.com