Dreamhouse by the Ocean: Best New Ambient Music - May 2026
Welcome to Dreamhouse by The Ocean, a series where I hand-select some of my favourite new Ambient music!
Featuring Ambient2k, Ah! Kosmos & Hainbach, Ben Seretan & John Thayer, Kiri Ra!, Noveller, Anthony Hurd, Zerolex, Kieldfal & Knoxville Ambient Orchestra.
Dreamhouse by the Ocean: An Ambient Music Collection
Noveller - The Girl Who Was Death (feat. Iggy Pop)
I am always drawn to songs, art, movies, and books whose titles begin with ‘The Girl Who’; and so on, this usually being followed by something kind of spooky. I think this may be in part because it allows us a momentary glimpse into the unknowable, hushed corners of the mysterious, secret inner world. ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ is taken from ‘I Am The Weather’; an album from Noveller (the solo project of Los Angeles-based guitarist and filmmaker Sarah Lipstate).
This opening soundscape starts like a Western (given the title, this makes sense, as it is a genre where the characters are generally at the mercy of the dusty plains they inhabit and most of all, each other). The words, which have a bit of a short story feel to them, are spoken by Iggy Pop, which makes the whole experience all the more enchanting. It makes me think of a mysterious girl with jet black hair who lives amongst the desert plains, who is cloaked in mystery, who is unknowable, who may not be of this world, making her all the more intriguing.
“She tells me/I am the weather/ She tells me/ I am the collector of dreams.”
Connect with Noveller
Instagram | Facebook
Jack Hayter - Dreamliner
This is taken from ‘On Aerial Locomotion,’ which were a series of songs “originally made for British Airways, Aer Lingus and Malaysian Airlines as calming in-flight 'entertainment'/Muzak.” [via Bandcamp].
On the subject of Muzak - I remember one Saturday afternoon here in the Victorian quarter where I live, I watched a BBC Archive documentary on YouTube on the subject, which I would highly recommend. I had not realized the sheer corporate scale that Muzak was operating at before watching the documentary.
I cannot even imagine a modern airline providing soothing music for the travellers; I guess this is probably down to the fact that people can provide their own individual entertainment. ‘Dreamliner’ is a plush and deeply soothing soundscape, one that would make looking out the window at the blue sky and clouds all the more magical and remind you of what a marvel it is to be soaring through the sky, on a planet we are so lucky to exist on. I will definitely be listening to this on my future travels.
Connect with Jack Hayter
Website | X | Facebook
Ah! Kosmos & Hainbach - In a Pattern Like a Shell
I was lucky enough to get to interview Hainbach and Ah! Kosmos for Musicngear on their use of non-musical instruments on their album ‘Gentle Hum,’ which should be out around the time this article goes live.
I was watching the playback of a live-streamed listening party the artists did, and I was immediately struck by this song. It sounded like a marble tinkling around the crystalline halls of a glass dollhouse. There is something so magical at the core of this, not just in the composition, but in the delicate quality of the sound. It really does not sound like anything else; this uniqueness definitely being due to the timbre arising from processing the music using non-musical instruments (e.g., old lab equipment).
Connect with Hainbach
Website / Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | X
Connect with Ah! Kosmos
Website / Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | X
Ambient2k - lov 2 the worls
I was lucky enough to get to interview Ambient2k recently, which you can read here.
This is taken from a recent EP called ‘healing;’ ‘lov 2 the worls’ being a gentle, meditative soundscape, one that has a sense of reflection and memory thrumming throughout. This makes you feel like you are submerged in water, seeing the world through a film of seaweed and moss, watching the sunlight sparkle on the water's surface, in your own underwater world. This is a place where you can allow yourself to fully be at peace, no matter where you are.
Connect with Ambient2k
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / YouTube
oem - Kiri Ra!, Lau Nau, Linda Fredriksson, Matti Bye
I love the paper flower in the artwork of this (I recently rejoined the library and got a book on paper flowers; I unfortunately did not attempt a single one of these crafts).
The soundscape of ‘oem’ is secretive, with muted, treated piano sounds that gently move, like petals against the window of Thumbelina’s miniature house, submerged amongst the grass and flowers of an overgrown garden. This is sprinkled with ambient sounds that morph and add a contrasted gritty texture to the softness of the soundscape, which slowly gets a bit more melancholy and uneasy.
Connect with Kiri Ra!
Bandcamp | Instagram
Ben Seretan & John Thayer - Little Winds
I came across this on Bandcamp and was drawn to the floral visuals immediately.
Taken from the album ‘Sunbeam of No Illusion’, ‘Little Winds’ sounds like bursts of sunlight streaming in through the glass on a Sunday afternoon, refracting on the vases and pots on the windowsill. It sounds like the hidden inner workings of flowers and plant life, it tinkles like the meditative moments where you are struck by the sheer beauty of this planet and of life itself. Hypnotic and truly wonderful.
Connect with Ben Seretan
Instagram
Connect with John Thayer
Instagram
Anthony Hurd - Liberation
In the artist's bio on Bandcamp, they share how they have been away from music for 30 years and are now reconnecting with the medium.
Taken from the album ‘Delivering My Pleasure’, which the artist made using Ableton and field recordings from around New Mexico. The soundscape twinkles and glistens, with some retro sci-fi adjacent sounds that interrupt every so often, making it feel like an Encounter on a blue-skied Sunday afternoon.
Connect with Anthony Hurd
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Zerolex - Confiance radicale (Out via Les Disques du Crochet)
I recently discovered the French label ‘Les Disques du Crochet’ and have been having a fantastic time going through their discography since.
This release is tinkling and a little strange, kind of like a lopsided wind-up doll walking around the dressing table, past the twinkling jewelry boxes and compact pastel pink powder puffs.
It gradually starts to speed up, introducing elements of arpeggiation and synthesis that kind of reminds me of Deadmau5.
Connect with Zerolex
Instagram
Connect with Les Disques du Crochet
Website / Facebook | Instagram
Kieldfal - Ghosts of Almost
This is taken from the upcoming ambient album ‘A Letter To the Horizon’ from British composer Kieldfal (aka Sam Wardhaugh). This rises slowly and gently to your ears, like a cold mist over a mountain on a foggy morning. The piano sounds like drops of ice on the wind, as you breathe in the air of the mountain, feeling fully alive. Come to think of it, this soundscape very much reflects the image above.
Connect with Kieldfal
Instagram
Connect with Valley View Records
Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook
knoxville ambient orchestra - 2026 - 04 (april)
Knoxville Ambient Orchestra is, as far as I can tell, an endeavor where a community of ambient musicians come together to do a live jam. This is a concept I love, as electronic music can be a lonely and solitary endeavor.
I am really enjoying the resurgence of people coming together as a community to improvise music on the spot (I recently wrote about Portland’s legwork, who has a sign in a park that says ‘sit here for a sonic journey’ and performs improvised electronic music for any stranger who sits down, which I think is wonderful).
This begins with percussion that thrums amongst the sands of unusual surrounding sonic textures, morphing into a glistening soundscape that sounds like it plays at the entrance of ‘The Twilight Zone’.
Connect with knoxville ambient orchestra
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Spotify Playlist
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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