When considering music as a whole, ambience isn’t something that’s always necessarily recognized or thought of, however ambiance has a major role that a good number of people fail to recognize, not only as an aspect of music, but as a genre of its own as well.
Music that utilizes ambiance predominantly could be described as musical pieces that place more emphasis on resonance, atmosphere, tone and the aspects of its composition rather than vocal chorus and instrumental arrangement. There is, of course, a good portion of ambient music that can and does utilize vocals and instruments, but they aren’t always the focal points.
There are many successful artists who specialize in this kind of music such as Hiroshi Yoshimura, Brian Eno, William Basinski and many others. Many of these artists have released ambient music albums that work exceptionally well, such as Eno’s “Ambient 1: Music for Airports,” in 1972 which consists of several tracks with eerie and ethereal sounds that create a soothing atmosphere with angelic voices, a calm piano and echoing chimes. Another example is Yoshimura’s “Quiet Forest,” from 1998, which consists of a soundscape composed of flutes, rapid rhythmic chimes, sounds of birds chirping and the splashes of a flowing river.
Ambient tracks are often utilized in various media as well, particularly in video games, such a “Firewatch,” for example, whose soundtrack was done by Chris Remo, does well to invoke an eerie, yet emotional and isolated feeling while playing through the game as a park ranger. Other notable examples include, but are not limited to, “Journey,” “Abzû,” “Minecraft,” “The Witcher 3,” “Silent Hill 2” and so on.
