Fragile meditations and vast sonic washes. Our favourite albums from 2024 that will find you a stunning headspace.

Damian Dalla Torre
I Can Feel My dreams
I Can Feel My Dreams is a gorgeous set from the Leipzig- based producer, working alongside an international cast. It is based on field recordings (during a residency in Santiago) and develops into the most beautiful, dreamlike meditations that float in and out of ambience. Somewhere between jazz (he is a saxophonist) and ambient music, it’s a seraphic and inspiring experience.

Dialect
Atlas of Green
Absolutely some of the year’s most beautiful noises as Andrew PM Hunt returns as Dialect. Man alive, the production is just wild. It’s like a whole little world unfolding and shimmering in the sunshine. From bleeps to instruments to fragments of field recordings, it is honestly delightful, and the textures are just amazing. Truly inspiring sound design, an enriching and immersive listen.

Rich Ruth
Water Still Flows
Rich Ruth is the recording project of Nashville multi- instrumentalist Michael Ruth. Water Still Flows moves with fluidity between two quite distinct modes, gorgeous meditative spaces that truly float, and intense and whipping experimentalism. The coherence of the journey is really impressive, avoiding sounding too sparse when quiet and too messy when dense.

Jon Hopkins
RITUAL
RITUAL is a single electronic symphony that evolves, ebbs, flows and unfolds over eight sonic chapters. From transcendental floats to hypnotic and cavernous subs, the evolution is both methodical and full of organic energy. I’d guess we have played this one a few dozen times through now and each time it feels different. You recognise little insignias, but it’s almost like flashbacks from the last time you bathed in its haze. Genuinely masterful stuff and so much to keep discovering.

Kali Malone
All Life Long
All Life Long is the latest work from composer Kali Malone and it is hugely impressive. The album comprises compositions for choir, pipe organ and brass ensemble. Sonically dense tracks that build up and swell, all with recurring patterns and echoes like daydreams. Genuinely one of the year's most overwhelming listening experiences. Positively magical stuff.

Isik Kural
Moon in Gemini
Don’t miss out on the lush sounds of Moon in Gemini from Isik Kural. It might sound like a weird compliment, but it is actually so beautiful that it made me quite sad. Gorgeous floating and fragile composition like daydreams. Special stuff.

André 3000
New Blue Sun
After first appearing as a drop digital release last November, we had been patiently waiting for New Blue Sun; 87 minutes of cosmic flute magic from André 3000, rapper, producer and half of the iconic Outkast. It is an album of beautiful serenity and although it is remarkably chill, it’s not like each tiny gesture isn’t thoughtfully progressing everything forwards. This is high spiritual jazz.

Belong
Realistic IX
The third LP from New Orleans drone duo Michael Jones and Turk Dietrich. Realistic IX retains their signature acid-washed atmospherics and soundscapes, but the clattering pivot into shoegaze textures is an amazing rush, especially on that first unexpected playback. An album full of melancholy and smouldering euphoria and one that we have spent a lot of time getting totally lost in.

Nala Sinephro
Endlessness
The sublime second LP from jazz visionary, Nala Sinephro. Whereas her brilliant Space 1.8 debut was about tightly wound minimalism, Endlessness is an expansive cosmic cycle, with a continuous arpeggio playing throughout. Ten flowing parts titled Continuum that honestly create a world. Featuring contributions from James Mollison (Ezra Collective), Morgan Simpson (black midi), Sheila Maurice-Grey (Kokoroko), Nubya Garcia, Lyle Barton, Natcyet Wakili (Sons of Kemet) and Dwayne Kilvington (Wonky Logic), this is such a stunning record.

Masayoshi Fujita
Migratory
Migratory is the latest LP from Japanese vibraphonist and marimba player Masayoshi Fujita and it really is sublime. Composed in the midst of nature (the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyōgo) it actually is even more organic and human sounding than his previous releases. Delicate without lacking intent, it is a tranquil and enthralling listen.