Album Recommendation(s): Caelum (2025) by zaké and Slow Blink and Virðulegu Forsetar by Jóhann Jóhannsson

I’ve always been fascinated with the album Virðulegu Forsetar from the late, great composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (has it already been seven years since he passed away?!) in that it mainly consists of a single repeated horn and drone passage that repeats over and over. In conception, it was to be performed live as large helium balloons were allowed to slowly descend over the audience through the hour-long piece. Ambient artist zaké seems to be working in a similar "transcendence through orchestral repetition” register with this latest project, Caelum, and it truly is glorious. And zaké invites artist Slow Blink on to the back half of the album to then remix the work and explicitly “pull a Caretaker” and deconstruct the music with an aim towards dusty (and alternatingly dark and hopeful) nostalgia.