Drinking Under the Influence

1. Grouper - Paradise Valley

Paradise Valley by Grouper

Grouper pulls out a late 7″ in 2016 that instantly shot to the top of my favorites this year, and not just with ambient releases, but with any and all of them. Though it’s brief, Paradise Valley contains such a pure intimacy, warmth and healing. It’ll wrap you up in a blanket of gorgeous catharsis that you won’t want to depart from. The 7″ is a stripped-down affair - not the usual flood of delay, reverb and decayed sound loops - but it’s still completely haunting in it’s subdued delivery. 2. Benoit Pioulard - Stanza III

Stanza III by Benoît Pioulard

For the third entry in his Stanza series, Benoit Pioulard (aka Tom Meluch) adds a healthy dose of distortion to his slow-shimmer guitar loops, pushing his ambient drone to take a textural dip in the shoegaze pool. Lovely and soothing as always, Stanza III further solidifies Tom as a prolific luminary amongst the ambient and drone communities. 3. Dominic Coppola - Beloved

Beloved by Dominic Coppola

Feathered and silver, Beloved sweeps into your ears with swirling cascades of ambient drone. I’ve listened to this one over and over this past year, particularly when I’m going to sleep. It’s a perfect passage from anxiety and rambling brain to deep calm and beautiful surrender. 4. Foxes in Fiction - Vacant Pavilion/Hypar Deluxe

Vacant Pavilion / Hypar Redux by Foxes in Fiction

A master of the bent, decayed tape loop, Warren of Foxes in Fiction crafts a reflective and distant-memory-lament kind of ambient that permeates the first track of this 7″. He balances things out with a sullen keyboard meditation on the second half, his softly obscured vocals bringing in that truly soothing sadness. 5. Mallets - Replaced Tiles

Replaced Tiles by Mallets

Decidedly lo-fi and slathered in warbling chorus, Replaced Tiles offers a cocktail of swirling drone, punctuated by faraway noise crashes. This very textural release excels at riding on the border of foreboding and ethereal beauty. 6. Desolate Horizons - I Thought I’d Never Find You

I Thought I’d Never Find You by Desolate Horizons

I Thought I’d Never Find You is a heavy dose of ambient shoegaze, that shows towering walls of distortion standing high and mighty above you. However, the distorted textures are never harsh, only expansive, and they’re always underlined by flowing streams of satin. 7. How To Disappear Completely - Fever Ray II

Fever Ray II by How To Disappear Completely

HTDC turns out top quality ambient on a fairly regular basis, so it’s always hard to choose a favorite. I chose Fever Ray II for it’s distinctive arrangements, filled to the brim with smooth, glacial electronic textures. While the EP has a brightness in its production, it’s emotion is decidedly pensive and longing. 8. .paperman - figs

figs by .paperman

This one really strikes me every time I listen to it. With it’s gothic, whirling-glass synths, bubbling electronic noises and faint vocals loops, calling Figs “enigmatic” is putting very mildly. It’s that deeply engaging kind of haunt ambient that feels somehow ancient and primordial but also transcendent of time and space. 9. Craun - ΗΣΥΛΑΝΑ

ΗΣΥΛΑΝΑ by Craün

Glistening, infinitely-looped synths that build and build on top of each other, ΗΣΥΛΑΝΑ exemplifies Craun as a skilled craftsmen of ambient drone. Found-sound textures crackle and fuzz, and pangs of dissonance chime just underneath to render a spectral darkness amidst the full synth arrangements. 10. 革 命 少 女 - サ テ ラ イ ト

サ テ ラ イ ト by 革 命 少 女

Polykite “Bones”