Kin is a record that offers hazy soundscapes, with layers of noise stacked on top of serene melodies, making it almost seem like a series of distant tunes you can’t quite recall. There’s a faint melancholy woven through it, sure—but that’s not what keeps pulling me back. What really hooks me are the songs themselves; track by track, they’re just exceptional.
Subtle, evolving, and quietly reshaping its own boundaries
in combinations of the two. Peel, his first record on the label, released in 2020, was KMRU’s breakthrough; it should come as no surprise that Kin is also gathering lots of listeners. Comparisons have been drawn between the two records, including in the album’s own description (“Kin could be construed as the second child following Peel”), but I would not settle for such a reductionist view of this record. Kin, to me, is far more gratifying than its supposed predecessor and is the first—out of the ones I’ve had the chance to check out—of KMRU’s works that has left a bold mark on me.
The aesthetic woven through Kin feels like a snapshot of where ambient music has been drifting in this new decade—subtle, evolving, and quietly reshaping its own boundaries. Popular artists in the genre, such as Tim Hecker, Fennesz, and Rafael Toral, have fallen more under the label of electroacoustic than ambient with their latest releases. Many independent labels also seem to be gathering artists interested in this style of music. Kin follows this same path; out of the various records like this that I’ve been listening to, this is among the ones that impress me the most. It’s a record that offers hazy soundscapes, with layers of noise stacked on top of serene melodies, making it almost seem like a series of distant tunes you can’t quite recall. There’s a faint melancholy woven through it, sure—but that’s not what keeps pulling me back. What really hooks me are the songs themselves; track by track, they’re just exceptional.
The first two tracks are among the best ambient tunes I’ve heard in recent years. The opening, “With the Trees Where We Can See,” is incredible. It is a bright, wonderful piece that sets a warm tone for the album. In its brevity, it climaxes smoothly into a beautiful explosion of textures and noise. It is one of the most compact tunes on the tracklist, alongside the similarly explosive noise found in “We Are,” the loudest track on the album.
More focused than his previous work ::
The aptly titled “Blurred” features none other than Fennesz himself. If you’re familiar with his work, his contributions to the track will immediately stand out; if not, you may still notice mellow guitar strums occasionally surfacing in the background. They are one of the reasons why the track is so effective, alongside its noisy layering and the various additions scattered throughout the piece.
The middle of the record is its most varied section. “Maybe” comes across as an oddly ominous piece, almost unfitting with the rest of the record. I’m pleasantly surprised to admit that I like it very much, though, as I’m usually not much of a fan of repetitive and gloomy ambient tunes. This one, however, I find particularly chilling for reasons I can’t quite pinpoint. There’s also the aforementioned “We Are,” a rather bombastic track that disrupts the trance “Maybe” puts you in, and “They Are Here,” possibly the least melodic of the bunch.
The final treat is “By Absence,” the twenty-minute closer—or penultimate track, if you have the vinyl-exclusive “Sink.” Its first ten minutes feel like a gradual liftoff: loops of chords fade in alongside various background, tinkle-like notes, making the track denser as it progresses. It is absolutely wonderful, a fantastic opening sequence that effortlessly pulls you into its digital world. The second half is more abrasive, building toward a noisy climax in the final minutes. It retains elements from the first half, keeping the piece cohesive, yet grows much louder than its shy beginning would suggest. Safe to say, it’s a great send-off for the record.
Overall, this is a wonderful record. It is certainly one of the best ambient releases you’ll get to listen to in 2026. It makes me even more interested in KMRU’s future output, as this record feels more focused than his previous work. The tracks function together rather than serving purely atmospheric purposes, and any attentive listener will be able to appreciate these compositions. It’s a great LP that ensures I’ll be keeping an ear out for whatever KMRU does next.
Kin is available on Editions Mego. [Bandcamp]
