Ambient music has long held a special place in electronic music, providing a space for listeners to sink into texture-rich, introspective soundscapes. The best ambient releases of September 2024 reflect this ethos, blurring the boundaries between electronic experimentation, field recording, and pure composition.
SOPHIE’s “Intro (The Full Horror)” opens with a glassy, haunting atmosphere, capturing the late artist’s uncanny ability to balance beauty and unease. William Basinski’s newly uncovered “September 23rd” gives another taste of his signature time-stretched, nostalgic loops, while Alessandro Cortini’s “I” introduces a journey with deep, atmospheric synth work.
Each track on this list brings something unique—Quazar554’s “Vialattea Roland Jupiter-6” is a cosmic nod to the Berlin School, while Clark’s “Tangent Cloak 2” builds ambient layers for his film score. These works reveal the versatility of ambient music as a genre that sits between meditative listening and experimental artistry.
From the misty soundscapes of chantsss’s “Actress Interlude” to Nala Sinephro’s reflective “Continuum 1,” these artists highlight why ambient remains essential to electronic music, allowing space to breathe in an otherwise fast-paced soundscape.
From a long (long) shortlist, these are the 15 Best Ambient Tracks of September 2024.
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SOPHIE – Intro (The Full Horror)
Pioneering artist SOPHIE’s eponymous second album was released posthumously last month, attempting summarise an extraordinary and sadly short career. The albums moves through various genres via mutiple collaborators, but opens with this glassy, disquieting slice of ambient.
Quazar554 – Vialattea Roland Jupiter-6
Quasar 554 is the project of producer Paolo Alberto Lodde, also known as Dusty Kid. Under this moniker, he delves into experimental and electronic music. For the One Instrument label he crafted an EP showcasing his versatility, using exclusively the Roland Jupiter-6, embarking on a cosmic journey reminiscent of the late 80s Berlin School.
NEXCYIA – Meadow
Paris-born, Berlin based American sound artist Nexcyia presents his 2nd album Exodus. Drawing inspiration from the decaying landscapes and moving atmospheres that surrounded them, he’s crafted a sonic tapestry that transcends traditional music composition, immersing listeners in a visceral experience of their journey.
Clark – Tangent Cloak 2
Clark has expanded his score for Naqqash Khalid’s award-winning debut feature film ‘In Camera’, into a mesmerising new album. Containing timeless synth instrumentals like ‘Running Dreams’, a bittersweet cover of the Carpenters / Sonic Youth classic ‘Superstar’, and the first single, epic, rising builder ‘Green Breaking’, alongside this brief ambient masterclass.
zake, Tyresta – Undiscovered
The Worlds We Leave Behind, the second full-length from the duo of zakè (aka Zach Frizzell) and Tyresta (aka Nick Turner), opens with “Undiscovered”, a heavenly, inviting glide that occupies a full quarter of the album’s run time. It sets the scene perfectly with a bedrock drone beneath a cyclical, ascending melodic theme, until gently shifting into shadows, its third act evoking a half-speed choir singing in rounds.
William Basinski – September 23rd – Excerpt 1
September 23rd is the first release in William Basinski’s new Arcadia Archive series. Recorded in September 1982 in his first loft in the pre-gentrified DUMBO neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, September 23rd is a recently unearthed early entry in what has become a hugely inspirational and influential catalog.
Civilistjavel! – I
Civilistjävel! returns with Brödföda, the successor to 2022’s Järnnätter and his fourth release for FELT. The record features collaborations with Laila Sakini, Mayssa Jallad, Thommy Wahlström, ELDON, and Withdrawn. Across its 75 minutes, Civilistjävel! unveils a breadth of emotions that on previous releases seemed distant.
Theodor Kentros – Μαύρη άμμος
This debut full-length album of Stockholm-based composer and electroacoustic experimentalist Theodor Kentros, could easily be interpreted as ‘just’ an assemblage of pieces written between 2021-2024. The six tracks – ranging in sound and disposition from serialised organ drones constructed to reach screeching and beautiful culminations, to minimalist, repetitive studies in tape loops and string synthesis – were composed and recorded in Stockholm and Visby at different occasions during down-time from his many other projects.
Nala Sinephro – Continuum 1
Nala Sinephro’s new album ‘Endlessness’ is a deep dive into the cycle of existence. The 45-minute album delicately spans 10 tracks with a continuous arpeggio playing throughout, creating an expansive, mesmerising celebration of life cycles and rebirth, beautifully morphing jazz, orchestral, and electronic music.
Floating Points – Ablaze
Sam’s Shepard has described his new album as Floating Points as a continuation of his 2019 LP Crush, so if you’re into that one – you’ll be happy with this one! Ablaze is one of the album’s calmer moments and demonstrates Shepard’s adept handling of reflection as well as balls-out club bangers.
James Bernard – Blooms
Only Now demonstrates exactly what James Bernard is about in this moment in time. Stunningly beautiful waves of bliss undulate across each track – layers of delicate synthesisers and electro-acoustic textures so carefully constructed.
chantsss – Actress Interlude
Over 10 tracks of spacious, sub-aquatic ambience, CHANTSSSS’s new album Shyness pulls you deep into his vaporous sound world. The songs themselves, a blend of ambient pop, chamber music and pulsing low end rhythms, feel cloaked in mystery. Layers of reverb and zonked vocals float in the atmosphere, moving between and through one another, mist on mist.
Alessandro Cortini – I
Following up on 2021’s Scuro Chiaro, NATI INFINITI is a 40-minute piece split into five movements, based on an immersive audio installation that Cortini originally created for the Sónar Lisboa festival. The record is mixed by Grammy nominated recording engineer, producer, and mixer Marta Salogni (Björk, Depeche Mode, Sampha), and features Cortini’s Strega synth, which he co-designed with music technology company Make Noise.
Belong – Crucial Years
Realistic IX, the third full-length by the duo of Michael Jones and Turk Dietrich aka Belong, is both an expansion and excavation of their signature acid-washed songcraft. Bleached guitars, metronomic drums, and buried voices rev, swirl, and seethe across shifting gradients of haze and hypnosis, alternately driving and diffuse.
Katatonic Silentio – Drip In The Cave
Mariachiara Troianiello, the force behind Katatonic Silentio, continues her exploration of spatial and sound design, slicing various forms of dub while following her instincts and storytelling through each work, including this ethereal title track.
