Many trace the origins of ambient music back to the ’60s, and particularly the early ’70s, usually tying it to the breakthrough Tangerine Dream made with their early albums.
Yet, since those early days and elongated, synthesizers-dominated soundscapes ambient music has gone in so many directions that it is hard to count them all.
These days, ambient involves so many elements and is often presented by artists that have deep roots in classical, jazz and other musical forms.
Jacob “NTHNL” Rudin, is certainly among those, as he is a a classically trained composer and pianist turned multi-flutist, producer, and as he notes, sound-healing practitioner. The Brooklyn-based composer has been around since 2012, and his ambient soundscapes have that classical musical structure imbued in his work, sometimes slipping into, some dreaded new age category.
All those elements can certainly be heard in NTHNL’s latest offering, titled Ontogenesis. As Rudin explains it, “‘Ontogenesis’ is the third in a series of albums called the Tranquility Studies. The idea was born in 2020 around the beginning of the pandemic…” and is “music combines electronic binaural frequencies with performances on a variety of instruments to create soundscapes..”
Sure, Rudin’s 11 pieces presented here, often touch on elements that new-age artists rely on, but his soundscapes have a solid substantial base that is structured but also free-flowing, stopping right at the border which would turn them into musical wallpaper, and serving exactly the purpose Rudin intended them to have – be relaxing and stimulating at the same time.
