The AbstrAct Observer
We regard music.
We write notes and share voices about independent releases: ambient, instrumental, electronic, contemporary, experimental, minimalist, whatever.
Submit yours here.
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Our first release is out.
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observation n.83
Pefkin
Unfurling
○ Jan 2026 | Label: Morc records
■ Genres: Ambient / Drone / Experimental
■ Rating: 8.1/10
■ Favorite track: “My breath the sea”► This is immersive and solemn, balancing reverence and unease. A slow bass pulse that feels both sublime and tense grounds the piece in a ritualistic sense of anticipation, while a whispered voice with a sacral tone weaves through the texture like an invocation. Notes from strings rise and fade in restrained gestures, intertwining with fractured electronic fragments that shimmer and decay at the edges. That’s such a powerful and deeply absorbing work in its slow, deliberate intensity.
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observation n.82
Hendrix Gullixson & Sawing Sound
Juniper II
○ Dec 2025 | Label: Somnimage
■ Genres: Electronic / Experimental
■ Rating: 6.4/10
■ Favorite track: “Lightning Ride”► This espands within an unquiet atmosphere. The soundscape is anchored by a fragmented granular pad that constantly shifts and erodes. The texture feels unstable, as if the sound were perpetually on the verge of collapse. From within this haze, brief melodies played by flutes and string instruments surface unexpectedly — fragile, fleeting gestures that hint at form before dissolving back into abstraction.
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Voices #42
◦ “voices” is the place where we ask, artists reply and you read.
here we got:
Perry Frank
answering some questions. We have already observed his drone / ambient work here.
[1. IDEA]
■ The A. O.: The track from “Atlas” that we prefer is “Desert Plain”. Can you tell us how it came to light?
► Perry Frank: Desert Plain was written and recorded during an evening session together with Leave No Shadows On The Ground.
They were basically written with guitar, while making experiments with reverb and delay pedals on my pedalboard after watching a documentary about the Amazon deforestation.
Main drones features a combination of the Strymon Cloudburst and the Hologram Electronics then I’ve added a bass line with the Volcakeys.
Basically there are only three or four tracks in this song.
I usually record my songs on tape cassettes with my Fostex X18 multitrack, often when they feature not so much tracks, then I record the tape on my Mac.
Titles came to me while thinking about a future when all the trees have been cut down, all around there will be only desert with no shadows on the ground.[2. CREATION]
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observation n.81
subespai
Saints
○ Dec 2025 | Label: Oxtail Recordings
■ Genres: Experimental / Drone / Noise / Field Recordings
■ Rating: 7.0/10
■ Favorite track: “St. Lawrence”► This long, obscure drone track unfolds as a bleak sonic landscape. The piece moves with unrelenting weight, its textures grinding slowly forward and stretching time into something heavy and disorienting. Only toward the end fragile sonic fragments begin to emerge — faint tones, softened harmonics, hints of melody — that gently temper the harshness. These late arrivals feel tentative yet meaningful, offering a subdued sense of release after prolonged tension.
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Best Tracks 2025
During this first year of activity we’ve sifted through countless independent releases, following faint signals rather than hype.
These 10 tracks stood out not for volume, but for intent. They move between ambient drift, instrumental focus, electronic tension, contemporary composition and experimental minimalism, often blurring those lines entirely. What connects them is a shared patience: sounds are allowed to breathe, structures either unfold or fall slowly, ideas trust the listener.
Together, they form a small map of the year’s most compelling independent music — works that reward attention and linger well after the final note fades.
Here is a mix set of all tracks (click on each track link for more info) ▼Tracklist
► matt robert mclennan quintet – tea tide pool
► marko josipović – vii
► euan dalgarno – horrow (feat. canaan balsam)
► modern silent cinema – nexus
► ince b – baseload drift
► suki quasimodo – i feel like
► perry frank – atlas
► swoop and cross – this river
► arutan – symphonic descent into the beast’s lair
► droning cats with nrv – catastrophicSee you in 2026.
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observation n.80
virabelo
Nova Mistero
○ Dec 2025 | Label: Independent
■ Genres: Drone / Ambient
■ Rating: 7.3/10
■ Favorite track: “Nova Mistero”► Here’s a vessel for elevation and release. Sustained tones drift freely, unmoored from rhythm or structure, giving the listener a sensation of endless suspension. The sound is airy and expansive, yet this very openness carries a subtle anxiety — there’s no clear anchor, no ground to return to. That’s both soothing and unsettling, capturing the paradox of freedom without support. Yet we surrender to weightlessness.
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Voices #41
◦ “voices” is the place where we ask, artists reply and you read.
here we got:
RAUSTE
answering some questions. We have already observed his drone / ambient / experimental work here.
[1. IDEA]
■ The A. O.: The track from “Never started never ended” that we prefer is “5 steps”. Can you tell us how it came to light?
► RAUSTE: I needed to close my EP, and I wanted to end it with a positive note especially because the rest of the EP is quite dark in the way it was conceived. I needed some hope. I remembered an old video I took of my son, who was 4 years old at the time, playing the piano for the very first time: 5 notes, 5 movements, 5 steps to a new world. (Fun fact: today, years later, that world completely belongs to him.)
The melody was already there; I just needed to shape it the way I liked by creating different samples, working on pitch, reverse effects, and so on.
The final touch, the element that gives the sequence its unity, is the sampled birds and wind chimes. For this, I have to thank the artist Lonetapes, who kindly shared these sounds with the whole community.[2. CREATION]
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Observation n.79
The Earl of Dean
Silence Has Broken
○ Oct 2025 | Label: Independent
■ Genres: Electronic / Experimental
■ Rating: 7.1/10
■ Favorite track: “Excavate”► This is where you get in a tense, restless atmosphere that never quite settles. Jagged synth clouds, nervous pulses and ticking textures create a constant sense of motion, as if the sound is pacing within its own confines. Dissonant tones hover uneasily in the background, sustaining a mood of unresolved urgency. That feels deliberately and effectively unstable.
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Observation n.78
Droning Cats with NRV
Cartography of Sleep
○ Dec 2025 | Label: See Blue Audio
■ Genres: Ambient / Post-rock / Electronic
■ Rating: 8.4/10
■ Favorite track: “Catastrophic”► Well, you’d better take 5 minutes of your time for this track. Guitar lines slowly evolve within a sea of spacious, enveloping layers of atmosphere. Sun is quietly rising all around. The progression is patient and immersive, inviting the listener to sink fully into the sound. Each swell adds depth and scale, transforming simple phrases into something vast and cinematic. Resistance is futile.
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voices #40
◦ “voices” is the place where we ask, artists reply and you read.
here we got:
H-M O
answering some questions. We have already observed her drone / ambient / new age work here.
[1. IDEA]
■ The A. O.: Can you tell us how the track “Misty Lake” came to light?
► H-M O: I live in northern Finland and spend a lot of time in nature – one beautiful morning in August I woke up in the wee hours to a sudden urge to go outside and enjoy the first rays of the sun. As I stepped outside, I was enticed by this sweet mist to a nearby lake. And there I could do nothing but stare at the water, breathe in the balmy air and record the soundscape all around me. So, the whole track is built on and around one single field recording from that morning. All I tried to do was to capture the feeling of staring at the lake at sunrise, by emphasizing the natural soundscape with soft and smooth and meditative electronic elements. My aim was to keep it calming yet quietly suspenseful, as that morning, or the whole natural world actually, felt and often feels to me. It was an almost transcendental experience, as if a whole huge lake was evaporating into thin air…and condensing back into a single drop on a blade of grass.I also took many black and white photos on my film camera of that lake on that very morning, which then ended up forming the cover art for Misty Lake as well as the music video (for which the link is this: ▼)
[2. CREATION]
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