Ambient musician CoastalDives has shared new album

Next Light is the beautiful, haunting new album from ambient experimental artist CoastalDives, composed with analog synthesizers – Sequential Prophet 6, Sequential Prophet Rev2, Elektron Analog Four – and computer manipulation.

The music was inspired by his father’s emergency brain surgery and slow recovery through his 75th birthday. Inspired by this intense personal experience CoastalDives employed elements of ambient and drone with neo-classical composition in an effort to create something unique, transportive, and melodic.

Field recordings were taken of people coming and going in St. Joseph Cathedral (Columbus, OH) and placed at the beginning and end of the album to create a space for the music, like a multi-movement symphony concert of synthesizers in a large cathedral to be experienced from beginning to end over seven pieces.

Opener Dark Spots takes a classical, choral approach to arrangement with synthesizers. From there, several pieces – Splitter, Rewire, 75 – have an intentional complex time signature to invite the listener to just let the music unfold, to listen without any expectations or anticipation of what happens next.

Reservoir ends the set of compositions with a very slow drone, a calming tone to emulate floating on water, accepting what has happened and offering a sense of closure.

A deeply personal album, CoastalDives invited you to share in this lived experience, and bring your own to the table when experiencing Next Light.