The Duality of Ambient Music
Ambient Flo radio in 2024, ways of listening, a potted history of ambient music, new daily schedule with KMRU, Arushi Jain, Gigi Masin, James Holden, Cold Cut, Grand River,Flora Yin Wong and many more
Music has always been a type of therapy for me, it just took me many years to frame it as such. I already recognised it to be a social connector; a store of memories; an access point into culture; a time traveller; a political voice; a geographical marker; spiritual guide and great source of happiness for as long as I can remember but ‘a therapy’ was only added to that list in recent years.
As I get older, living in a busy noisy city such as London, I've also come to crave silence - recognising it as both inner peace or solitude as well as a physical absence of sound. By defining it in this way, I think of it as a duality - on one hand, a craving for an escape from the tyranny of external noise, on the other, a quest for internal ‘quiet’ - a reduction of stress and anxiety that I’ve gained greater awareness of building slowly throughout my adult life. By this definition, silence does not mean an absence of music, but merely a curation of the music in my life that helps me achieve a type of peace without adding to the noise.
Music presents a duality too: music that we ‘hear’ - offering a functional and ubiquitous backdrop to our daily lives, and music that we ‘listen’ to - with focussed attention as a means to connect, inspire, admire and, quieten the mind, or, in other words achieve a State of Flo(w)! Subconsciously, one is continuously being forced to make a choice - do we default to ‘hearing’, or do we choose to ‘listen’?
Both means of listening can bring therapeutic benefits and for me, are perhaps best explained within the genre of ambient music. Ambient music’s duality presents a kind of paradox: is the genre a more up to date version of the ‘Furniture Music’ created by Eric Satie in the 1920’s that was designed to accompany the sound of clinking cutlery for diners in restaurants? Or does it go back far further, to Neolithic times, when our ancestors used bone flutes in reverberant cave spaces in healing rituals and ceremonies, channeling the power of sound to adjust state of consciousness, connect individuals in unison and regulate the body's physiology?
Discreet Music and the Environments series
In 1975, Brian Eno perfectly defined this duality with his definition of ambient music: that it should be ‘as interesting as it is ignorable’. The story goes that he was in hospital and a friend played some harp music quietly in the background. It was so quiet that the music blended perfectly the incidental environmental sounds in the room to create a soundscape that could be experienced passively. This led to the creation of his ‘Discreet Music’ and ‘Music for Airports’ albums, and subsequently the four part ‘Ambient’ series, which in turn helped birth the Ambient genre. This music was ‘background’ by nature and presented a true value of passive listening.
Often overlooked but five years prior, The Environments series compiled by Irv Teibel created a different kind of framework for ambient music, presenting long form recordings of minimal drones, bells and nature and marketing them as a form of ‘drugless medicine that could soothe the soul’. Brazen with its message that this music was a new tool that could be used by the listener to harness the healing power of music, it was laterally bracketed within the wider span of ‘New Age’ music that was also gaining popularity at the time through the likes of the Bay Area’s Hearts Radio and elsewhere. (For a fascinating read into this whole chapter of history and the broad span of Ambient Music in general, check Victor Szabo’s fantastic 2023 book “Turn On, Tune In, Drift Off”).
As with many genres, the initial New Age releases in the 1970s proved fertile terrain for artists such as Iasos, Stephen Halpern, Paul Horn, before it ran into a relative creative dead end in the 1980s, awash with quasi religious dogma and compositions that were derivative and overly simplistic. Unlike Eno’s Ambient music, the first New Age music was centered around a more active listening experience - by paying attention, one could be taken on a journey with the potential of connecting in a deeper way with the unitary consciousness of the universe. It was perhaps better defined as a form of ‘space music’ that sat intertwined with the psychedelics movement and bridged the gap between eastern spirituality and western philosophy.
Eno himself was dismissive of New Age, calling it overly simplistic and distancing himself from when it went too far into spiritual woo woo. He was more interested in ambient music as ‘systems music’, in which the agency of the composer was removed from the recordings, allowing them space to exist in a form of its own (which consequently set the framework for his later experiments in generative music and app technology).
So, are you listening or hearing?
I would argue that both modes of experiencing sound are valuable and by accepting this allows us to make a more conscious choice of how we engage with music and sounds all around us.
All this was part of the inspiration behind Ambient Flo, which launched as a 24 hour web radio station in 2020 and recently celebrated its 3rd birthday. It started life as a way for me to combat the stress of the Covid lockdown, and help others find some peace amongst the uncertainty of those times through music. As we emerged out of lockdown and the noise returned to our cities, Ambient Flo helped dampen the worst impacts of that noise and created a backdrop that I listened to passively and actively in equal measure. My intention was to curate music that could perfectly juxtapose the two competing modalities and leave the choice to the listener - to hear or to listen.
I wanted to create a constant resource that could balance functional, everyday listening with transcendent, inspirational sounds. Although that sounds slightly oxymoronic (and perhaps overly ambitious), I believe it has achieved that aim and in doing so raised the bar from the average ‘chill out’ playlist you hear on Spotify. The music, far from being merely ‘background music’, has real depth, musicianship and craft. For me, listening actively can be transportational and inspiring, whilst listening passively can be a great aid to a variety of states from wakening, to focus during my working day, to transitioning into sleep mode at night.
Defining Ambient in 2024
Has the definition of ambient music changed much since the 1970s? When I started Ambient Flo, I defined its musical remit as: “music that should work discreetly – as per Brian Eno’s original Ambient manifesto – but it should also be of high enough quality that the compositions can be listened to over and over again. Ambient Flo is heavily influenced by the deep listening movement of the late, great Pauline Oliveros, environmental music from Japan and elsewhere, the 4th world concepts of Jon Hassell, the immense sonic sculptures of Tim Hecker and the spiritual music of Alice Coltrane. All of these great visionary artists have acted as musical guides during the inception of Ambient Flo.”
Over the past three years, I’ve been lucky enough to pose the question of what is ‘ambient music’ to a heroes list of musicians, DJs, sound therapists and artists who've helped me curate the sounds on the station. This has helped cover so many different musical spaces and in doing so helps give a broad brush definition of what constitutes ‘ambient’.
We’ve heard contemporary classical from the likes of Gigi Masin, Poppy Ackroyd, James Heather; transcendental new age, space music and 4th world sounds from Richard Norris, James Holden, JD Twitch, Free Love, Orpheu The Wizard; trippy dreamscapes from, Patricia Wolf, Heidi Lawden, CLAIR; Afrofuturism and jazz variations from Dr Michelle Ulor; Reichian rhythms and kosmiche from Grand River, Hannah Lee, Felbm; otherworldly sound ecologies from Flora Yin Wong, Azu Tiwaline, Mehmet Aslan; Japanese Kanyo Ongaku from Mari*; 90’s electronic chill from Eris Drew, Cold Cut, Violet; folkloric and acoustic leanings from Nicola Cruz, Jonny Nash, Fadi Tabbal; Indian ragas and classical from Arushi Jain, Sararthy Korwar; dubby sounds from Marcus Worgull; sound therapies from Aaron Horn, Juan Maclean, A Space For Sound; beautiful pastoral renditions from United Freedom Collective, Jogging House, Anna Wall; piano fundamentalism from Lisa Lerkenfeldt; and a special focus on Ukrainian ambient from Heinali and Ivan Shelekov.
The net is wide, but mainly features music with no beats, no words or voices, lacking concrete structure, and combines inspiratoin from nature with a mix of acoustic, traditional and electronic instruments.
Ambient Flo Radio
In addition to the above, hundreds of tracks have been submitted and playlisted on the station and we’ve been very happy to promote the music of so many legendary artists alongside those that have received their debut airplay on the station. It’s been a labour of love, but one that is gratifying, especially when I continue to receive positive messages from our listeners:
I love Ambient Flo's concept and execution. It feels both medicinal and a thing of the future – the playlists are fantastic.
“First off I want to say thankyou for creating the space that you created, it is truly inspiring and amazing.”
“just wanted to say great work on ambient flo, love the concept and use the radio to start the day often”
“I’m from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and i just game across you Chanel. What you doing is amazing. I can say strongly that ambient helped me Be a better person and I’m sure it can help a lot of people too.”
“Ambient Flo is a true gift, I discovered some great artists through it. Many thanks for including my music.”
“I just wanted to send a tip of the hat in your direction National Poetry Day. Ambient Flo has legit been a huge help to my writing and it's appreciated”
“I listen Everyday, it’s just wonderful”
Moving ahead to 2024, my plan is to re-introduce Ambient Flo to the world. To do this, I’m created the schedule below, bringing back all previous guest curators and leaving a slot open for new music.
The station has been funded by our Patreon community, but with the birth of A State Of Flo, I’m moving everyone over to Substack and closing down the Patreon page. If you are a current paid subscriber, I hope you will be happy to move your subscription over! In doing so, you’ll receive all the ASOF subscriber benefits, including ALL releases that we have lined up this year free of charge. If you haven’t received one of our limited edition Ambient Flo ‘zines, send me your address and I’ll get one in the post for you. Your subscription will continue to fund the running costs of Ambient Flo and is very much appreciated.
If you’d like to submit music, the email address is hello@ambientflo.com
Happy Listening and Happy Hearing!
Plenty to explore here, thank you. I write about the difference between hearing and listening too - it’s important.
I’ll be listening to many of your suggestions, and recommending your Substack.
Hola , Gracias Por Compartir Tus Conceptos Sobre La Música Ambient , Y Por El Gran Trabajo Que Realizas En Radio Flo. Me Gustaría Compartir A Una Gran Mujer Que Hace Música Ambient , ( Compone Unos Paisajes Sonoros , Increíblemente Hermosos , Con Una Electrónica Muy Sutil , Con Drones Enigmáticos Y Una Voz Poderosa ) , Aquí Os Dejo Su Enlace A Su Página En Bandcamp. Un Saludo Y Enhorabuena Poe Él Artículo. https://hojascirculares.bandcamp.com/album/vessel-2