Welcome 2025, welcome batch4

Our first batch of the year is out now.

Venture forth to Bandcamp and celebrate by listening to the albums.

They will come to DSPs in two months.

Two artists on two islands share their worlds, struggles, and modes of achieving peace.

Hailing from the United Kingdom, Mute Branches crafts an idiosyncratic collection from the beyond, where post-rock, electronica, and ambient merge into one curious beast.

Stationing in Australia, the Japan-born Heroarky brings an equally sombre and hopeful swatch of post-minimalist tracks crafted between hospital visits, hoping for a better tomorrow.

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///OA08 Mute Branches ~ Us Without the World

We are in excess of situations where one would like to escape as far as possible; to, for a second, indulge the fantasies of the greener grass in the mythical Elsewhere.

James Cresswell’s Mute Branches project ventures to the final frontier on “Us Without the World”, an exercise in optimism weighed down by realism, searching the stars for hope only to find the baggage we already brought with us.

Nine cinematic tracks weave and bob through modes of expression ranging from warm fuzzy drones, colourful electronica, radio-sampled audio collage, retro-futuristic daydreams, guitar-led drifty slowcore, up to dark ambient meditations.

An optimistic sense of wonder and discovery spreads through the first part of the album, only for the second half to find us adrift and confronted with something stranger, colder, and more unpredictable. Disparate by design but united in colouring within Cresswell’s idiosyncratic lines, the tracks give “Us Without the World” a unique flavour of dreaminess and weariness.

Synths, guitars, samples, and voice come together creating a sense of place in full, glorious stereo, forming the most complete of Mute Branches’ releases thus far.

After the post-rock, there is still us. Just us.

Special thanks to the beloved people and ghosts of planet Earth.

James Cresswell – sampler, synthesizer, guitar, computer, field recordings

Design: Michał Kęskiewicz

• Read: https://www.oklarecords.com/releases/mute-branches---us-without-the-world

• Listen: https://oklarecords.bandcamp.com/album/us-without-the-world

• Pre-Save: https://push.fm/ps/oa08

/ About the Artist /

Starting out with an interest in the textural soundscaping of ambient music and post-rock, James Cresswell’s Mute Branches project has continued to draw on a diverse set of influences in an effort to conjure up a soundtrack for half-remembered spaces and the places you can’t go back to. As well as self-releasing work, he has had music out on labels such as Disintegration State, Bricolage Collective, and Front and Follow.

Find him here:

• Bluesky - @mutebranches

• Bandcamp- https://mutebranches.bandcamp.com

///OA09 Heroarky ~ Healing Process

Three years after being diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer, Heroarky presents “Healing Process”, a sonic representation of distinct moments and feelings experienced during recovery.

Confined to bed, he dreamt of spaces. The sounds he longed for, from bustling cityscapes to quiet forests, formed a collection, the basis of an imaginary map of a healing journey. “Healing Process”, created between hospital visits and treatments, is an extraordinarily intimate soundscape filled with swirling, warm, synthesizers, raw heartbeat recordings, and Organelle M ambient excursions, all reflecting the emotional states he went through - capturing the pain, the hope, the stillness, and the resilience of healing.

A vulnerable, minimalistic voyage of an ailing body and resilient mind. Raw, imperfect, and restorative, reminding us of the fragile yet constant rhythm of life.

A special thank you to my friends, family, and partner for their unwavering support throughout this challenging time and beyond.

“I dedicate this album to my mother who passed away several years ago.”

Mastering: Mark Bihler & Aki Tanaka

Design: Michał Kęskiewicz

• Read: https://www.oklarecords.com/releases/heroarky---healing-process

• Listen: https://oklarecords.bandcamp.com/album/healing-process

• Pre-Save: https://push.fm/ps/oa09

/ About the Artist /

Heroarky is a Tokyo-born, Sydney-based experimental ambient music artist known for fusing minimalist influences with cinematic soundscapes. His music blends organic and synthetic sounds, creating distinct sonic landscapes. Heroarky’s compositions offer an intricate, evolving sound that stirs emotion and invites exploration.

Find him here:

• Bandcamp: https://heroarky.bandcamp.com

• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/heroarky

Big thank you to the artists for trusting us with their precious creations.

Love.