This Stunning PAN Compilation Gives New Meaning To The Word “Ambient”

Experimental, Berlin-based label PAN is set to release its first ever compilation on April 7, featuring 16 tracks from both long-established producers, and artists who are brand new to the label. Titled mono no aware (loosely meaning "the pathos of things" or "an empathy towards things"), the compilation explores and stretches the concept of "ambient" music. In the hands of Tennessee-born lo-fi artist Yves Tumor, the genre is a deeply affecting, almost unnerving one, as he weaves field recordings with a trance-inducing piano loop. Berlin composer TCF's offering takes the listener into a glitchy, immersive matrix, while Belgian producer Sky H1 uses a soft-edged synth and vocal palette to much more soothing effect.

In an email to The FADER, PAN founder and artist Bill Kouligas explained how the compilation as a whole has a theme of transience and impermanence, and the way our memories and emotions distort the passage of time. “Time often switches from a critical view on the past to a fictional future, combining personal memories with historical facts but also fantasy," he wrote. "Mono no aware evokes the ideas of sensitivity and poignancy, and these contemplations about memory and non-reality.” Listen exclusively below.