Nocturne (Soundtrack for an Invisible Film) by Avi C. Engel (they/them) is equal parts song cycle and sound experiment. The instrumentation consists of voice, guitar, gudok, talharpa, percussion, and field recordings. Engel recorded the album using only an e614 Sennheiser microphone to capture all vocals and musical instruments, and a cellphone as a field recorder. Drawing inspiration from seemingly disparate sources such as Derek Jarman’s The Tempest and Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast, the result is a recording with a palpable nocturnal atmosphere.

In Engel’s own words: “I started recording Nocturne during a spell of sleeplessness and depression, and finished as I was emerging from it. It began as an attempt to soothe my own mind, and I share it with the hope that it might soothe other minds as well, or at least offer an interesting distraction.”

Avi C. Engel: Nocturne (Soundtrack to an Invisible Film) will be out on Somewherecold Records on limited edition CD and digital on February 28, 2025.