Offie Mag

There’s something about moving out of a city that inevitably changes the way you listen. For Koen Holtkamp, leaving Brooklyn for the relatively rural surroundings of New York’s Hudson Valley gave him the space to slow down, experiment and approach his music from a different angle.

The composer and multi-instrumentalist has spent more than two decades exploring the space between ambient, experimental and electroacoustic music, both through his work in influential duo Mountains and across a solo catalogue fascinated by texture and the relationship between sound and its surroundings. His new album Nightlife, out now via Western Vinyl, continues that exploration, drawing on his changing environment and a newfound sense of creative freedom.

Much of the album began with a new instrument built around Holtkamp’s modular system, using physical modelling techniques to recreate the sound of plucked strings. Inspired by acoustic traditions ranging from guitar soli to the kora, he began translating these influences into an electronic language, creating sounds that feel surprisingly tactile.

Much of Nightlife came together during late-night sessions, which eventually became a personal ritual for Holtkamp and gave the album its name. That sense of quiet focus runs throughout the record, with its carefully layered sounds building a series of immersive environments that reward a closer listen. After more than two decades of making music, Holtkamp has found fresh inspiration in his surroundings, turning a change of pace into a new way of hearing things.

Buy the album here.