Drifting In Silence :: Where Waves Begin to Collide (Labile)

Dedicated to Mike Petruna, whose recent passing lingers behind every note, Where Waves Begin to Collide deepens Stembridge’s devotion to immersive exploration.

Withdrawn, expansive, and quietly infinite

Threading a delicate line between ambience and atmosphere, Derrick Stembridge—working under his fitting alias Drifting In Silence—unveils Where Waves Begin to Collide via his Labile imprint, a work that mirrors his unhurried, contemplative sonic language. Opening passage “The Moment Everything Became Clear” rises on a serene swell of synthesizer glow, carrying an almost cinematic weight, as though memory itself were drifting through a dense veil of sound. Soon after, “Fight or Flight” slips into a dreamlike downtempo haze, rhythm quietly guiding a shoegaze-tinged landscape before slowly fading, dissolving into near-weightless space.

Within this gentle unraveling, Stembridge finds room to build vast plateaus of evolving ambience—moments that feel capable of stretching indefinitely. Pieces such as “Where Waves Begin to Collide,” “All We See,” and “In The Still” hover with an almost translucent presence, surrounding perception rather than demanding attention, circling through slow tides of feeling and passing time.

Dedicated to Mike Petruna, whose recent passing lingers behind every note, this collection deepens Stembridge’s devotion to immersive exploration. Murmured voices glide through “Beneath the Current,” offering a quietly human pulse, while penultimate movement “Moving Forward Into” introduces soft, rain-like beats paired with a reflective tone that gently prepares a closing chapter. Finale “A Different Sky” unfolds with patient restraint, spreading delicate filaments of synthesizer across a hushed horizon, as if sound itself were breathing—withdrawn, expansive, and quietly infinite.

Where Waves Begin to Collide is available on Labile. [Bandcamp]

Derrick Stembridge | Mike Petruna :: Cryptic Logic (Labile)