Track Premiere: Thaumiel Sonozaki—”Psychos”

Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff

The latest album from the Long Beach, CA ambient artist Thaumiel Sonozoki (aka Demetria Maldonado) is the third in a four-part series about the times of the day. This new one, Amber Ethereal, is evidently a sonic manifestation of morning, a daily era that hosts either hope or dread for the day ahead. Maldonado explores both of those moods on this sprawling seven-song release, but the first single she’s previewing here today is the record’s 11-minute centerpiece, “Psychos”. According to the record’s liner notes, this one is mean to represent the coldness of morning, and the song has a hesitant quality to it that translates the great mental challenge of pulling yourself out of that warm bed and into the brisk air beyond the covers.

The composition is pensive and minimal, as each individual synth stroke echoes to completion like bird calls across an open pond. There’s a bit of a downcast mood to the amelodic chord progression, each note sounding like it’s searching for a same-key partner that never appears, which reminds me of the quiet solitude of morning: a time for whispers and silent routines as your brain begins to adjust to being active again. “Psychos” almost feels like it’s going to build into something but it never does. Rather, it clocks into a consistent pattern that falls just short of meditative in a really interesting way. For a song this austere and muted and lengthy, it never allows my mind to relax and drift elsewhere, its slightly unsettling quality keeps me present and acutely aware of its blinking flow. It is a morning song, after all, and it really does sound like the start of something rather than a lilting finale.

Stream it below while you start your day:


Amber Ethereal is out 8/7 via Grimalkin Records.

Tape proceeds will be donated to the Long Beach LGBTQ Center, lathe cut proceeds go to Grimalkin’s artist mutual aid fund, and digital sales go directly to Thaumiel Sonozaki.


Eli Enis | @eli_enis

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