New Subscriber Playlist: “Ghost Ambient”

It’s finally getting a little greyer and chillier here in Nebraska, so naturally, I’m gravitating towards music that matches the changing weather. Which means that I’ve been listening to a lot of Tor Lundvall lately. For nearly three decades, Lundvall has been crafting a shadowy musical world that’s entirely his own, ranging from synth-pop to experimental pieces to stark instrumental compositions that are perfectly accompanied by Lundvall’s moody and vaguely unsettling artwork.

This month’s playlist, titled “Ghost Ambient,” provides a broad overview of Lundvall’s music, from his earliest recordings through today. Lundvall’s earliest recordings — 1997’s Passing Through Alone as well as the archival material on 2019’s A Strangeness In Motion — land squarely in synth-pop territory. His subsequent releases, ranging from 2016’s Rain Studies to 2018’s A Dark Place are often far more ambient, abstract, and experimental.

Accompanying the playlist is the latest episode of my“Playlist Breakdown” podcast, in which I spotlight one of the playlist’s songs and why it’s so special, interesting, and/or meaningful. In this month’s episode, I discuss “Quiet Room,” the opening track from A Dark Place, which effectively blends his early synth-pop approach with the more abstract and ambient music of his later recordings.

All of these are little bonuses for subscribers who support Opus financially. If you’d like to get access to them (and more), subscribe to Opus for $5/month or $50/year. (You can also subscribe for free and get my weekend newsletter.)