PLAYLIST
- [0:00] INTRODUCTION
- [01:34] “Labyrinth of Air” by City of Dawn & Eddy Ruyter from “Silfira” (Heart Dance Records, 2026)
- [05:00] “As if It Has Already Happened” by Wil Bolton & David Cordero from “How to Make Sense of Downtime” (Home Normal, 2026)
- [08:50] “The Blue (Part 1 & 2)” by Shinren from “The Blue (single)” (Independent, 2025)
- [13:33] Featured Artist Segment
- [16:07] “Act I: Garden” by Tristan Allen from “Osni the Flare” (RVNG Intl, 2026)
- [21:14] “Hall of Columns” by David Aimone from “Eulogy for an American Dream” (Passed Recordings, 2026)
- [28:35] “Space Station Sanctuary” by Dino Pacifici & Brannan Lane from “Imaginary Horizons 2” (Wayfarer Music Group, 2026)
- [32:24] “Acacia” by Theddra from “Inland Sea” (Mare Nostrum, 2026)
- [35:13] Featured Artist Segment
- [37:44] “Tube V” by XII Sound from “Tube V” (Driftworks, 2026)
- [40:38] “Oblique part seven” by yyate from “Société oblique” (Perceptual Tapes, 2025)
- [43:54] “Brittany Pt. IV” by C-Shape from “Brittany” (Independent, 2025)
- [50:03] “39°02'38.7"“N 95°12’21.5"“W” by Austin Williamson + Blanket Swimming from “Horizons” (Dragon’s Eye Recordings, 2026)
- [55:38] “Put Down Your Weapons (a protest song by Annie Schlaefer, Remixed by Stolace)” by Stolace from “Put Down Your Weapons (single)” (Stolace Music, 2026)
Artist Information
Tristan Allen
Tristan Allen is a one-of-a-kind artist, a unique individual with a universe of imagination unfolding through their dreamlike amalgamation of enchanting cinematic music with marionette-style puppetry and other-worldly prop, set, and lighting design. While I generally showcase an artist’s music and the journey from conception to execution, it’s hard to not talk about Allen’s music without talking about the imaginative, highly creative worlds that they build around each and every composition. In fact, to use words like imaginative or creative feel like a discredit to the level of genius with which they express their ideas. To paint a more vivid picture of Allen’s music and imagination, one might think of them as the convergence of the minds of Jim Henson for his mastery and innovation in puppetry, Joe Hisaishi and his imaginative compositional work with Studio Ghibli films, the creative direction of Travis Knight with his amazing film Kubo and the Two Strings, to name just a few. “Act I: Garden” marks the entry into the mythic world of Tristan Allen’s new album “Osni the Flare”. The song begins in a hush, intimate and wispy, before opening into densely layered sound design, with scattered textures picked up by the wind and pulling toward a full form. The album expands from a childlike fairytale into something stranger and rich in mystique, drawing listeners and viewers from the familiar into Allen’s fantastical and deeply imaginative world. You almost can’t experience the music alone without the artistry of the visual story that they tell through puppetry, the folklore inspired set design, and the magical lighting that brings it all together. From the album “Osni the Flare” here’s Tristan Allen with the track “Act 1: Garden”, here on The Relay Station
https://tristan-allen.bandcamp.com/
https://rvng.bandcamp.com/
XII Sound
Sound designer Alison DeVille, who operates under the moniker “XII Sound” has released what I believe to be the most imaginative field recording-based album that I’ve heard in my lifetime with their five-song EP “Tube V” released on Driftworks. “Tube V” provides an extremely vivid portrayal of traveling London’s Underground with immersive compositions that explore the intersection of urban and industrial environments, and the natural world — blending ambient textures with personal experience to produce something both musical and moving. DeVille writes, “It’s difficult to know when my phobia of the Tube began. But at some point, something changed, and I began to experience an increasing dread of the Tube. Something about the very shape of it – the enclosure, the beneath-the-ground feeling, the crush of people – and soon, getting stuck in tunnels even for a few minutes would cause me to break out in a sweat. I have noticed that the Tube, with its long windpipe, is a singer like me. At times in ‘Tube V’, I sing a duet with it. I wanted to mix natural sounds into the industrial so that you are not always sure what is a natural sound and what is mechanical or human-made (is it a voice or is it a train?). Almost like mixing paints to form new colours, I mixed these sounds perhaps to find my way back to nature, and to ease that grief of urban disconnection.” Tube V is a sonic maelstrom, a tidal wave of cleverly manipulated sounds and environmental textures — a totally immersive journey on the world’s oldest underground system. It is incredibly dynamic, hard hitting, and at times beautiful. From their album “Tube V”, here’s XII Sound with the title track “Tube V”, here on The Relay Station.
https://driftworks.bandcamp.com/
ARTIST LINKS
Tristan Allen
https://tristan-allen.bandcamp.com/
XII Sound
https://driftworks.bandcamp.com/