The 25 Best Ambient Albums of 2025

These records have taken me places this year

Have you actually noticed that I’ve changed the tagline of this newsletter from experimental music and culture to ambient and experimental music?

The main reason was that ‘ambient’ as a genre just feels more tangible for many people, and so much of the music I’ve been covering does fall under that loose umbrella. Still, I’ve kept the wider ‘experimental’ term in there, as a carte blanche allowing me to write about any kind of non-mainstream music I find interesting, from post-rock to indie rap, from electronica to jazz.

Speaking of genres, I really enjoyed Dusty Henry’s new book in Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series called 20th Century Ambient, which I’ve just finished. It’s a great entry-level overview covering all the relevant pioneers from Erik Satie to Brian Eno, Suzanne Ciani to Harold Budd, Hiroshi Yoshimura to Aphex Twin. Aside from being cleverly written – in accessible, non-academic language, which I appreciate – and thoroughly researched, it also contains some of those cute little cartoon drawings Henry’s made himself known for.

Moving on to my year-end content, this year I’ve decided to compile two genre-focused lists instead of one big list. The first part covers the best ambient albums of the year, and I have another one for vaporwave releases. I could have just mixed them up, as vaporwave basically is a subset of ambient music, but for me, it made sense to separate them because of the vaporwave community’s distinctive ̶a̶̶e̶̶s̶̶t̶̶h̶̶e̶̶t̶̶i̶̶c̶̶s̶ characteristics.

Even within this ambient list, I’m covering a lot of ground. Some of the records below contain purely electronic sounds, others were made with acoustic instruments. Most fall somewhere in between, typically adding some field recordings into the mix. What they all have in common is that they’re mostly instrumental (some do have a bit of wordless vocals, voice samples etc.), and while not all are completely beatless, they focus less on rhythmic elements and more on creating a soundscape.

Please note the list is not ranked; the albums appear in random order – except for that special one that I’ve crowned my Ambient Album Of The Year.

Oh, and by the way, don’t get me wrong: “The best”, in this context, absolutely means “my personal favorite”. As grown and independent readers, you do understand that basically all music criticism is totally subjective, right?

Dig into these albums over the next days and weeks. Let some of them soundtrack those hopefully calm and restful days at the end of the year. May they provide an island of peaceful serenity for you in this time of mindless consumerism and constant masking at family celebrations.

I’ll be back with my vaporwave year-end list in a few days.

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, photo: Brandon Schulman

Ambient Album Of The Year

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – Gift Songs (Mexican Summer)

Even if I’ve loved it from the start, this record has grown so much on me since its release in May 2025. There’s an undeniable magic about this unassuming work that made me keep coming back to it. Whenever I needed a sonic equivalent to a soothing weighted blanket, I could rarely resist the call of that infectious 20-minute piece on the A-side, “The Milky Sea”.

Shortly before the album release, I interviewed Jefre Cantu-Ledesma for the Buddhist magazine Tricycle. He’s an experienced experimental musician who’s originally from Texas but has been living on the Westcoast for a long time and has now been based in Upstate New York for a while, working by day as a Zen Buddhist priest and hospice chaplain. This gentle acoustic ambient record is an offering and an expression of his compassionate worldview – a fascinating kaleidoscope of timbres, tones and textures, based on decades of mindful improvisation practice.

Whatever The Weather – Whatever The Weather II (Ghostly International)

Loraine James’ second collection of clicks and cuts, more ambient than the first instalment, but totally infectious. (interview)

Duval Timothy – wishful thinking (Carrying Colour)

Beautifully restrained, melancholic piano minimalism, gently infused with West African guitar. (full article)

Macie Stewart – When The Distance Is Blue (International Anthem)

Melodic, post-minimalist compositions informed by jazz, art pop and free improvisation. (interview)

Félicia Atkinson – Promenades (Shelter Press)

Simple, unhurried keyboard improvisations from the French ambient master.

Poppy H – Treadwater Fury (Fort Evil Fruit)

Dark and folky nostalgic vignettes, improvised on treated acoustic instruments.

Hinode Tapes & Hiroki Chiba – Ita (Instant Classic)

Dreamy ambient synth jazz with gorgeous upright bass lines.

DJ Trystero – Cantor’s Paradise (FELT)

Vaporous, dub-inflected post-ambient techno soundscapes.

Purelink – Faith (Peak Oil)

Minimal, foggy, Y2K microhouse-inspired electronica.

U.e. – Hometown Girl (28912)

The enigmatic artist formerly known as Ulla with another glitchy post-ambient masterpiece.

Patricia Wolf – Hrafnamynd (Balmat)

Nature-inspired, dreamy synth soundtrack from the Pacific Northwest.

Emily A. Sprague – Cloud Time (RVNG)

Wholesome live modular synth improvisations from a Japan tour. (interview)

Sontag Shogun x Lau Nau – Päiväkahvit (Beacon Sound)

Neoclassical ambience with a peaceful Scandinavian folk edge.

Guentner | Spieth – Conversion (Affin)

Soulful, dubby electronic textures from rural South Germany.

Almost An Island – Almost An Island (Past Inside The Present)

Americana-inspired ambient with a post-rock sensibility.

Emil Saiz – Cycles Of Disappearance (Ruby Harvest)

Gorgeous minimal drone vignettes made with a guitar and some pedals.

Okkyung Lee – just like any other day (어느날): background music for your mundane activities (Shelter Press)

Stunning keyboard miniatures reminiscent of 1980s Japanese environmental music. (interview)

Aiko Takahashi – Monologue (quiet details)

Mysterious lowercase ambient with brilliant sound design.

Rob Winstone – Butterflies (Warm Winters Ltd.)

Two hours of murky ambient and hauntological neoclassical vignettes.

M. Sage – Tender / Wading (RVNG)

Acoustic rural psychedelia, one of my long-time acoustic companions this year.

In Transit – In Transit (FELT)

Electronic textures and stumbling grooves from former dubstep producer Dave Huismans.

claire rousay – A Little Death (Thrill Jockey)

Diaristic emo ambient made of processed field recordings and acoustic instruments. (interview)

Slow Blink – Letters Home (Past Inside The Present)

Nostalgic longform compositions built from nothing but weathered tape loops. (interview)

Sanguis – Wounding (Squama)

Haunting piano improvisations from free-spirited German ambient producer and jazz musician Ludwig Wandinger. (interview)

Walt McClements – On a Painted Ocean (Western Vinyl)

Impressionistic solo accordion, layered with organs and reeds, synth and melodica.

Bonus: Concrete Avalanche’s Ambient Album(s) Of The Year

This is a guest recommendation from Jake Newby, who’s running the Concrete Avalanche newsletter on Chinese music and culture, one of my favorite sources of new music. Check out his brilliant playlist of Chinese ambient.

Jian Cui – back to the pond (self-released)

An album based on an expedition to gather moss with ‘several aunties’ in the mountains of Guizhou, back to the pond walks the classic Eno ambient line between ignorable and interesting. The record mostly revolves around light touch moments of pure atmosphere, but — laced with field recordings from Jian Cui’s expedition — there’s a narrative there for those in search of one.

Cui had originally visited the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture to document the traditional music of the Lisu people, one of southern China’s numerous ethnic minorities, before joining the aunties on this chance foraging mission. When he returned to his big city base, he says he felt a profound disconnect with nature, which led him back to these field recordings. Capped off with a distinctly non-ambient Lisu folk tune, back to the pond is an evocative listen, if you want it to be.

Honourable mentions:

Cola Ren – Mekong Ballad (Human Pitch)

A beautiful jazz-accented downtempo record that just has a little too much singing and percussion to be truly considered ambient but which is one of my favourite releases of the year.

DaYe – Road to Spring (bié)

This playful, experimental-leaning and not-quite-ambient electronic album is another record I really enjoyed this year and is similarly worth your time.