It’s double Swedish in this edition of Ambient Universe. And that’s a first! And we top it off with a great new release from the US, making this a trio worth exploring.

Tobias Karlehag (Sweden) – Orquidea

I’ve said so many times in this column, but for ambient music it’s just as important what goes on in the background. The background is the focal point for me, sort to say.

Random unintended noise from field recordings, a rich stereo field of weird little details that triggers the imagination, delicately composed, deliberately adding an element of chaos.

Not even the most gorgeous pad from the sexiest of analogue synths can ever substitute such details. It gets so much more organic then.

And that’s why I love this track.

Alyas (Sweden) – Metaphor

“Radio silence”. That’s the words that popped up in my head while listening to this one.

The images this track creates in my mind is of someone monitoring a reading from deep space, searching for clues of life. Lonely, at the observatory, no signal for hours after hours, weeks after weeks.

I dunno why, but I feel this track describes that moment of a hope that’s never fully faded, it’s alive but old and worn.

CONNXCT (USA) – Ponder

I round off this session with a track that’s more melodic than what I usually pick. But there’s just something about the atmosphere here that caught my attention. It’s melodic, yes – and I don’t like melodies in my ambient – but it’s abstract enough to not push me away.

Maybe it’s the use of the reversed sounds adding some magic to the mix, maybe it’s the ever-present background canvas that fills the picture so perfectly.

… Or maybe it’s just that this is one atmospheric beauty of a track.

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All three are added to our quite excellent Spotify playlist, “Ambient Universe“, where we collect only the finest new releases as we discover them. Weekly updated!