Top Ambient Albums of 2025 – Summer Edition
As I said in my Top Ambient Albums of 2025 – Winter Edition & Spring Edition rundowns, (and I will continue to say this) music lists with “Top” in their title should always be taken with a grain of pink Himalayan salt. There are only so many hours in a day to properly absorb Ambient music – and while I’ve had a chance to listen to a lot of new ambient music this Summer, there are PLENTY more that are worthy of this list. With that being said, here’s my list (in no particular order) of the top ambient albums of Summer 2025.
Best Ambient Albums of Summer 2025
Muzak for the Encouragement of Unproductivity – Jasmine Guffond
Release Date: June 27, 2025
The tones on this album are soft and probably mildly unsettling for the average listener, but it skirts on the edge between melancholy and nostalgia. A very specific nostalgia though; think October in Los Angeles circa 2009. Like, this album belongs in a Michael Mann film. It starts slow and ends slow and you’re left with a feeling that it’s still undulating and twisting upwards into a dark sky above a dreary, quiet Van Nuys evening. Absolutely fantastic album.
Päiväkahvit – Sontag Shogun x Lau Nau
Release Date: June 20, 2025
This album is a little raw, but that’s what I like about it. Beneath the beautiful ambience is the middle ground between sound collage and field recordings. One track is two children speaking in a language I can’t understand and honestly, I’m not sure if I’d want to know what they’re saying. It weaves in and out of minimal ambient and flows into deep, lush textures over reverbed vocals. The charm comes from its rawness – you can hear the atmosphere of the room as much as the instruments themselves. It’s unpretentious and grounded.
Terrains – PUX/NNDL
Release Date: June 13, 2025
From my June review of this album: ” Production Unit Xero and NNDL are very different artists, but they seem to be fighting for the same cause – the cause of creating deep chasms into the moldable spirits of us all. Production Unit Xero has been building weapons out of synths and reverb for a couple of decades now, and their collaboration with NNDL is more of showcase of just how razor sharp that aim has gotten. How can a wall sound be so well defined? Questions like that are best kept for oceanographers who deal in plain matter. What happens when a sonic tsunami washes through you and you realize you’ve merely become a filter for this wall of sound?” Read the full review here.
Hrafnamynd – Patricia Wolf
Release Date: July 11, 2025
Hrafnamynd functions as an entry point for listeners who might dismiss ambient music as inaccessible. I dare say that this album is safe, but when I say “safe”, I mean safe with your feelings. This album captures the experience of being present in a place while also remembering it from a distance. Very restrained melodies, but I’d say they are pretty emotionally charged. Atmosphere and feeling are given equal weight. Patricia Wolf shapes each piece with a guiding presence, providing structure without intruding on the spacious environments she constructs. Great ambient album.
Openness Trio – Nate Mercereau, Josh Johnson, Carlos Niño
Release Date: July 11, 2025
Holy hell, was this album an experience. It’s Jazz, it’s Ambient, it’s fucking dark. It has a pervasive darkness and it defines its atmosphere. It’s a chasm of luscious sound with every available moment filled with a precise, experimental tone. Each member shapes the group’s voice through a unique sonic palette. The album blurs improvisation and composition, emphasizing (above all else) trust and a shared experience. A release of considerable weight and sophistication. Can’t miss album.
Who Owns The Dark? – Cherrystones x Demdike Stare
Release Date: July 11, 2025
Looking to venture into darker ambient territory? Look no further. What I look for most in ambient music is to feel a sense of normalcy. My life is dark and unsettling at times, and if I’m in a place where things are too good to be true, it’s always nice to be brought back to my comfortable dark space. Some of textures in this album feel very rough – the emotional topography is bumpy, shaping an emotional terrain that is deep and disorientating. Industrial elements collide with ghostly layers, producing a sound that feels both material and alien. Deep caverns await you with this one.
Interior of an Edifice Under the Sea – Pan American & Kramer
Release Date: June 27, 2025
Interior of an Edifice Under the Sea is a damn near perfect modern Ambient album. The album captures a mood of decline and disquiet, resonating with the broader sense of instability that marks contemporary American life; the perfect companion for the end of all things. For me it echoes the empty factories in Detroit, the suspended time of financial anxiety, the ache of realizing that while some things are meant to fail, an immeasurable amount of pain is soon to follow that will negatively impact those who have it worse off than you. It’s a beautiful album for the end of this culture. Pan American & Kramer have captured something truly spectacular. One of my favorite albums of the year.
Lateral – Brian Eno & Beatie Wolfe
Faith – Purelink
Release Date: June 6, 2025
This record initially slipped past my attention, partly because of its appearance on so many damn playlists and article lists, which often makes an album feel overexposed before you even hear it. But really, it’s a pretty damn good album. With elements of dub and house, this album has something for everyone – a pretty solid feat given that this album is only six tracks. One track also features Loraine James on vocals and it’s an absolute banger. The success of this album across critical circles isn’t an accident. Put this one on your playlist.
Author
