Ambient – Queen City Sounds and Art

Ana Hausmann’s “nausea-stalgia” is an Organic Ambient Articulation of the Dark Mysteries of Nighttime Streets

In the organically immersive flow of Ana Hausmann’s “nausea-stalgia” one hears not just intermittent textures like hearing the detritus in the breeze of nighttime streets on the edges of an urban sprawl. The oddly harmonic scraping of hinges articulated by processed violin harmonics, the plinking of kalimba like sonically stylized droplets of rain and the low rumble of bowed guitar like the barely felt but always present thrum of aircraft from an airport in the distance. The field recordings of wind and environmental noise is used with such care it is impossible to fully tell the difference between that and an intentionally generated sound such is Hausmann’s care in the mix and layering of elements in the aim of crafting a unique listening experience. It is a “song” in an expanded understanding of the term as a composition that evokes emotion and provokes a psychological response. In this case it is a sense of mystery and distant menace, of a haunted landscape nearby whose tendrils of mood are in a constant drift to draw you in to something that might be fascinating if not dangerous. Listen to “nausea-stalgia” on YouTube and follow Ana Hausmann on Spotify.

Errunhrd’s Ambient Slowcore Single “Don’t Drink Chemicals” Vividly Sketches the Inner Edges of Romantic Dysfunction

The hazy, cycling drone creates a dreamlike resonance throughout Errunhrd’s “Don’t Drink Chemicals.” It and the melancholic vocal processing is fitting for a song about how it feels to be in any kind of relationship that seeks to reign you in and smother your full dimensions as a human in a warped and unsustainable co-dependent dynamic with love engaged in as an act of control and possession. To be in that situation and to perhaps convince yourself that this person is the right one when the whole situation stifles you and prevents both people from developing. Noah Brown’s video for the song is reminiscent of the work of Phil Tippett and the way it is both intimate and haunting, perfect for this song that captures a headspace many people have found themselves within not allowing themselves the knowledge that they can aspire and have for themselves a life that nurtures joy and encourages growth. Yet being able to articulate these feelings means having a greater chance of overcoming the psychological blocks that oppress and repress. Musically it’s like hearing a more ambient, witch house-adjacent iteration of HEALTH and Crystal Castles collaborating on a hypnogogic pop track. Watch the video for “Don’t Drink Chemicals” on YouTube and follow Errunhrd at the links provided. The new Errunhrd album Everything I’ve Ever Known releases May 14, 2025 on all stream platforms and CD.

errunhrd.com

Ben Lukas Boysen’s Ambient Single “Alta Ripa” is the Sound of Easing Into a Time of Rest

Ben Lukas Boysen, photo courtesy the artist

“Alta Ripa” comes in like a slow moving snowstorm late at night. Ben Lukas Boysen’s arrangements of harmonic drones roil languidly and blanket the soundscape with cool, subtle layers that drift and flow, conveying a sense of settling in. The harmonies linger and dissolve into the generated mood. It’s like hearing distant horns signaling a time of rest and reflection in some distant future when the world is at rest and able to indulge some extended periods of inactivity imposed by the onset of winter at least for a night or a two. The sound can wax melancholic but ultimately it is one of ease into a headspace of peace. Listen to “Alta Ripa” on YouTube and follow Ben Lukas Boysen at the links below.