Dreamhouse by The Ocean: Best New Ambient Music - September 2026
Welcome to Dreamhouse by The Ocean - a series where I hand-pick some of my favourite new ambient music.
Featuring Bird of Paradigm and Katya Urban, Ava Rasti, Innesti, Lusine, Alex York, Deepdiveintomymind, Dreamfibre, Quelche & Ambient2k.
This edition features: a surrealist soundscape that draws your attention to the shimmering fabric of nature against which our lives unfold; a dreamy piece that creates the sensation of sunlight catching the dust motes in a long-abandoned house, reminding me of the movie ‘Presence’; a piece that sounds like something floating through the halls of an NYC studio apartment, one that is home to a lot of artists; a piece that has the kitsch vibe of 1970s Halloween; a piece that reminds me of a graphic novel I read as a child; a piece that sounds like it is saturated with azure blues and the green of utopian landscapes, and more.
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Dreamhouse by the Ocean: An Ambient Music Collection
Ava Rasti - No One Knows How Wild the Wind Blows
This is taken from the Iranian-born composer and musician Ava Rasti’s upcoming album of the same name (out October 30th, which you can presave here).
This track was composed during the 12-day war of 2025 (the conflict that arose when Israel began attacking Iran), which progressed over 12 days. The artist was unable to return home during this time (I cannot even imagine how distressing this must have been), on which the artist shares, "I found myself feeling lost inside a storm of uncertainty, as if I were somehow dancing through it while carrying the heaviness of life. The piece became a way of holding that moment — fragile, unstable and emotionally charged — when everything felt like it could shift at any time, and I had no control over where I might land next."
Sweeping, slightly dissonant strings swoop down to your ears, made all the more hauntingly beautiful by the music video directed by Aslan Mohammadpour.
‘No One Knows How Wild the Wind Blows’ captures the feeling of the places where all your memories are being subjected to uncontrollable violence. The places from which you bloomed being at risk of being completely wiped out. It captures how moments last longer during times of war and conflict, almost suspended in time. This is a breathtakingly beautiful piece, and a reminder of the sheer scale and human cost of what is lost during war.
Connect with Ava Rasti
Instagram
Connect with FatCat Records
Instagram | Facebook / X
Bird of Paradigm and Katya Urban - West Fork Choir
This is an ambient piece by Bird of Paradigm and Katya Urban. ‘West Fork Choir’ is taken from ‘Remembering the Watershed’, which was made with “field recordings taken at different parts of the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers.”
This is a kaleidoscopic sound piece that pairs the sounds of the city with the enchanting sounds of nature, creating a surrealist soundscape that draws your attention to the shimmering fabric of nature against which our lives unfold. Go to a park on a summer's day, put this on, and take it all in.
Connect with Bird of Paradigm
Instagram
Connect with Katya Urban
Instagram
Innesti - We Were There, Among Ghosts
Photographs © Katia Chausheva
This is taken from the newly released album ‘Inconspicuous’ from Illinois-based artist Innesti.
There is something in the fabric of ‘We Were There, Among Ghosts’ that creates the sensation of sunlight catching the dust motes in a long-abandoned house. A house that is about to be filled with life again (it made me think of the 2024 movie ‘Presence’, a film told from the perspective of a ghost).
There is a dreamy stillness to the piece, a quality that captures the feeling you get when you stand in a room that has been empty for a while, where you sense everything that came before, this being even more prescient in the stillness.
Connect with Innesti
Instagram | Facebook | X
Lusine - All Clear
This is taken from ‘Melting Days’, a new album from the prolific Lusine.
This reminds me of a graphic novel I read as a child, one that the librarian recommended to my dad. It was a beautifully strange amalgamation of collage and different drawing styles all fused together, creating a rich and slightly off-kilter world where the characters lived in seashell-like houses under pink skies.
'All Clear’ reminded me of this. Odd textures and sounds all flowing together to form something bizarre and beautiful, something thrumming with life. The pads are so dreamy they sound like they have come to you from the oceans of your imagination. I love this because it feels so thoroughly alive.
Connect with Lusine
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Alex York - 40
I know this artist is based in Chicago, but ‘40’ to me sounds like something floating through the halls of an NYC studio apartment, one that is home to a lot of artists. This, to me, feels like the sounds of their artistic practices echoing off the walls and lofty ceilings and morphing into its own art piece.
You can listen to or purchase ‘Bd Tapes 2’ in full here.
Connect with Alex York
Instagram
Deepdiveintomymind - Memoir
Photograph credit: www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-halloween-witch-costume-14241339/
This sounds like something from an obscure Halloween CD you found in an old record store or charity shop. It has the kitsch vibe of a 1970s Halloween, one with handmade paper crafts and beautifully strange carved decorations. This is the sort of thing April Ludgate might listen to to get in the Halloween mood.
Connect with Deepdiveintomymind
Instagram
Dreamfibre - Emerald Horizons
There are quite a lot of corners of the internet where you can fry your mind, and also quite a lot of corners you can relax into. The YouTube channel of ambient and visual artist Dreamfibre is the latter.
Emerald Horizons is like stepping through the computer screen into an azure blue utopia from the 00s, the kind that only existed in the botanical and aquatic technology design signature to the time.
‘Emerald Horizons’ feels like you are on a retreat; step inside and treat your mind and your ears. I love how the soundscapes the artist creates feel like they are saturated with the colors of the visuals.
Connect with Dreamfibre
Instagram | Facebook | X
Quelche - The Floating Veil
This is taken from the Italian artist's EP ‘The Cloudline’ which was “inspired by the quiet movement of sky, clouds, and atmosphere”. This feels like floating through the clouds, through a tangerine sky, and entering into the great unknown of the shimmering cosmos. It is utterly breathtaking (it actually made me think of the scene in ‘Project Hail Mary’ where we see the spaceship for the first time).
Connect with Quelche
Instagram | Facebook
Ambient2k - steele pan
Listening to Ambient2k’s music is like a balm. ‘steele pan’ is a bed of shimmering, therapeutic, celestial textures that swirl around you and create vast open spaces for you to sink into.
‘cybershield’, another track from this collection of tracks (‘Time again’), is a meditative and plush soundscape that feels like stepping into a verdant green garden in cyberspace.
Connect with Ambient2k
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / YouTube
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About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
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