Ambient music

I like ambient music.

Correction: I love ambient music. I can’t get enough. It’s good to fall asleep to, it’s great to wake up to and it’s perfect, undistracting background noise when I’m working during the day. In fact, it’s 12:10 am right now and I’m listening to Eluvium’s Talk Amongst the Trees as I write this.

Ambient is “a musical genre in which sound is more important than notes. It is generally identifiable as being broadly atmospheric and environmental in nature.” (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

Some say ambient music began with Erik Satie’s experimental piano compositions in the early 20th century. Satie’s best-known work is simple piano parts that could loop for several hours. He coined the term “furniture music,” meaning that it was part of a room’s decor or ambiance (pun intended) rather than a focal point.

Others point to Brian Eno’s work in the 70s as when the genre began. Eno is best known as the producer of U2′s The Joshua Tree and other albums, as well as his part in the band Roxy Music. His groundbreaking album Ambient 1: Music for Airports is widely considered to be the first ambient album, and it is still looked to as a prime example of the genre today. There Eno took simple, looping pianos and single note tones and covered them in a wash of subtle noise. Loops would overlap on themselves, creating new tones and sounds as a result. The songs clock in between six and sixteen minutes.

Aside from enjoying ambient for its utilitarian aspects, I have a great respect for ambient artists for their skill. When dealing with quiet, repeating sounds that are hardly melodies, they walk a fine line between mundane and genius. The focus required to make the music effective rather than annoying or boring takes great finesse and an attention to details that would be unimportant in other forms of pop music.

Ambient music can be effective and enjoyable for everyone. It may take time to find the music you particularly enjoy but once you find that album or two, I’d bet it would be hard to ever give them up.

Here are a few ambient (or almost-ambient) albums that have done the trick for me:

• Brian Eno – Music for Airports
• Stars of the Lid – And Their Refinement of the Decline
• Hammock – Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow
• Eluvium – Talk Amongst the Trees
• William Basinski – Disintegration Loops I-IV
• This Will Destroy You – This Will Destroy You