On Melting Days, the Seattle producer returns to the immersive, rhythm-forward ambient sound that shaped his early work.
Evolving textures, looping melodic motifs and subtle rhythmic frameworks
Jeff McIlwain, the acclaimed Seattle producer better known as Lusine, has announced his tenth studio album, Melting Days, which will be released via independent label Ghostly International.
Arriving three years after 2023’s Long Light, the new album sees McIlwain return to the immersive ambient and experimental electronic terrain that has defined much of his two-decade career. Long regarded as one of the cornerstone artists on Ghostly International‘s roster, Lusine has earned widespread respect across the electronic music landscape for quietly pushing the boundaries between ambient music, techno and melodic electronica.
Melting Days explores themes of memory, grief, transition and renewal through ten intricately layered compositions. McIlwain pieced together the album intuitively, allowing it to emerge as a meditation on emotional transformation. “When you’re moving through grief, it’s as if you’re watching your previous life get foggier and foggier,” McIlwain explains. “I think this was a bit freeing for me, not needing to compromise on ideas.”
The album has already drawn comparisons to Lusine‘s 2007 ambient touchstone Language Barrier, a record that has remained highly influential within contemporary electronic music circles. Among its admirers is Ghostly labelmate Loraine James, who previously described Language Barrier as her “favourite ambient album of all time.” Like James‘ own work as Whatever The Weather, Melting Days embraces the loose, old-school UK understanding of “ambient,” something closer to early Aphex Twin, Seefeel and Locust than beatless background music, with rhythm and movement remaining central to the compositions.
Across Melting Days, McIlwain combines evolving textures, looping melodic motifs and subtle rhythmic frameworks, drawing inspiration from artists including Susumu Yokota and Mountains. Longtime collaborator Trent Moorman contributes percussion, while saxophonist Bryan Manzo appears on the album’s opening and closing tracks.
The album’s first single, “Pendulum,” also serves as its emotional centerpiece, swinging from muffled shimmers to pulsing, string-flute-static splendor. “Maybe it’s coming from a more beat-heavy world, but it’s hard for me to let a track just sort of stay where it is,” McIlwain explains. “I want to build momentum.”
Melting Days is available for pre-order from June 24 via Ghostly International on August 21. [Release link]
Photo by: Alley Rutzel
This is a press release.
