december 'women of ambient' + marine eyes updates
marine eyes ~ december newsletter
I’m Cynthia (marine eyes)—an ambient musician, curator, and artist living in the greater Los Angeles area. cloud collecting is a newsletter featuring 3 question interviews on creativity with women and gender-expansive artists, women of ambient mixes, and marine eyes updates. Thank you for being here!
December ‘women of ambient’
For the final women of ambient mix of the year, I’ve packed it with 23 new tracks, as I’m taking January off to fully embrace the holidays with my large family (for context, I have five kids, aged 15-22). This mix isn’t a "best of" list, but rather a collection of special songs—many of which are recent releases—that I have been listening to on repeat lately. Over half of the artists featured are new to the series, though you’ll also find a few familiar faces among the tracks. I’m also happy to offer a sneak peek of an upcoming release from Colorado new age flutist Sun Swept, whose beautiful new album will be out on Aural Canyon in just a few weeks.
Since starting this series in March 2021, I’ve never run out of songs I’m excited to share. Finding new music has always been a passion of mine (starting with my parents' extensive record and CD collection), and discovering hidden gems from women artists to share with all of you is one of the most rewarding parts of this journey.
You can listen to this month’s selections via the Soundcloud continuous mix (just for a little while), BNDCMPR + playlist (with all the latest additions at the top).
**This mix and all archived mixes from the past few years are available to stream and download for paid subscribers of this newsletter. I pour a lot of love into this mix series so even a little donation to my KOFI is helpful too.
women of ambient ~ December ‘24
Dream Crease feat. Drum & Lace- Grotto (s/r)
upsammy- Mazing (topo2)
Kayla Painter- For You I Won’t Forget (s/r)
Aisha Vaughan-No Past, No Present, No Future (Leaving Records)
Pefkin- Gossip in the Leaves (Nite Hive)
Cassandra Croft- Country of Your Mind (s/r)
amelia courthouse- Vihangi (s/r)
Gia Margaret- Mourning Dove (Red Hot Org)
Merely & Malibu- love hard (YEAR0001)
Alanna Crouch- to go out again
Celia Hollander- Air / Water (s/r)
VoxAxoV- VERT6 (s/r)
wood ear- Amethyst Deceiver (s/r)
Antonina Nowacka- Moth Spins (Mondoj)
Belly Full Of Stars- Swannanoa (Bakkerman)
Freya Arde- Falling In Love Again (s/r)
our dear friend the medic- cold clouds go over (avos records)
Veryan- Lift Hands (quiet details)
Moskitoo- Words Wardrobe (HEADZ)
perila- wish (Lapsus Records)
Sofi Paez- 1123 (OPIA Community)
Sun Swept- Mirror Lake (Aural Canyon)
Hollie Kenniff- What Carries Us (Nettwerk)
marine eyes updates
~ songs for incense
Last month, I released songs for incense, an EP I created for a specialty incense company. It was a unique experience, especially since I’ve never worked with prompts given by someone else. However, I didn’t feel like I had to compromise my creativity at all—many of the prompts were nature-inspired, and they opened up worlds I was eager to explore: mountain streams, summer nights, nostalgia….listen/support here:
~ Flint
My husband James Bernard, along with zakè and From Overseas, just released Flint, one of my favorite albums of the year. I had the honor of singing and doing vocal production on the last track, Thistle. Thistle is this blend of dream pop, shoegaze and drone, a miniature world I like to live in. If you connect with this song and haven’t listened to Keep The Orange Sun yet, you probably want to check that out soon too. Listen to Flint here:
~ My Heart, My Beloved
James and I released 2 new songs (well more like a song + a supporting vignette) on a collaborative project with Benoît Pioulard and zakè to honor Zach’s wife Julia’s birthday. I’m especially proud of the song Valleys and Peaks, where I sing pieces of a poem Julia wrote. Listen/support here:
I also did album art for Sun Rain’s lovely album mea culpa:
…and IKSRE’s star-studded remix album Refurl via Hush Hush Records which James and I also did an awakened souls acid remix for.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, music recommendations, or anything you’d like to share. My inbox is always open. I'll be back next week with a new creative interview—see you soon!
Thanks for including qd22 Veryan 🙏 wonderful selections :)