Nature
Also known as Environmental music
A broad New Age-adjacent tag for recordings that put birds, water, wind, and other natural sounds at the center, with Dan Gibson’s Solitudes standing as one of the clearest documented early references.
Origins and context
Documented usage of the style grew within New Age and environmental recording circles; Dan Gibson’s Solitudes, launched in 1981, is a clearly documented early example of a Canadian project built around nature recordings.
The sound
Characteristics
- Field recordings
- Birdsongs
- Water sounds
- Wind
- Gentle instrumental textures
How to listen
Start here
- Dan Gibson's Solitudes
Best for
- Quiet focus
- Sleepy listening
- Slow walks
- Post-stress decompression
History
AllMusic places Nature as a style within the larger New Age family, describing it as music that brings nature recordings into the fabric of instrumental listening; it also notes that the style sits close to Environmental, which developed from New Age’s naturalistic edge in the early 1970s and expanded through the late 1970s and early 1980s. That timeline fits the work of artists such as Dan Gibson, whose Solitudes brand began in 1981 and built a long-running catalog around recorded natural environments. Because the label is broad, the genre often overlaps with meditation, relaxation, and environmental recording rather than living as a tightly fenced scene. In practice, the record of the style is as much about how artists captured place as about melody: streams, shorelines, forests, and birds become the pulse of the piece, and the human instrument writing tends to stay light enough not to disturb the air around them.
Notable artists
- DGDan Gibson
- BKBernie Krause
Essential listening
- 1
Dan Gibson's Solitudes
- 2
- 3
- 4
