Fresh Singles from Tone Ranger
- R.A.G.
- Jul 6
- 3 min read
A new maxi-single released by Tone Ranger combines a range of natural and digital instrumentation to create a unique and thick laid atmosphere. During songs, you are pulled into this almost outlandish soundscape that feels both tribal and cultural, but also dream-pop oriented, with beautiful scents that drip down and help build a shimmering aesthetic that all feels fantastical.
The first track is called "Touchstone", and this is where you start feeling that cultural approach with African drumming and chanting vocals that float through the song's background and feel both angelic and slightly haunting at the same time, somehow.
There are also gorgeous synth pads that stretch across the landscape of the song and start to build a lushness that helps get you washed away with the tonalities that now surround you.
For me, it's the combination of percussion, all natural and acoustic, and this digital instrumentation. The synthesizers and natural tone of the percussion create something incredible.
The vocals creep in and out and stay adrift in the song, buried in reverb effect and layered so that it helps create a different textural wall and base to the track itself.
You also have flute and woodwind instruments that come in and help build that natural tonality even more, along with some of that cultural undertone.
This was such a cinematic and beautiful track that whisks you away to another place. The beauty of songs like this is that they let your mind go free a bit.
The tone and mood of the song are set, and it is a positive one. It feels bright and invites you to come dance along with the rhythms.
I loved how this particular track sets such a wonderful tone and builds its own aesthetically swirling world.
You can pick up little elements of ethereal sounds, and it just all makes you strangely feel at peace.
For me, it was a peaceful song. When it was over, I was able to take a deep breath and let all of that out.
Wonderful work on that one.
The next track, "Over The Moon", was also quite a beautiful track but approached a little bit differently.
The similarities are in the vocal approaches and some of the spaciousness that the songs both give off.
The vocals are also dripping in reverb effect, and because of that, they feel distanced, adding this depth to the belly of the song.
This I feel like is part of the production approach that Tone Ranger takes when working on music.
There is a depth that is meant to be created and that feels completely come through perfectly.
This track has tremolo-affected guitars that are also reverbed out and sets of different kinds of vocals that come in and out of the track, adding different textures to it all.
You have to love a set of songs that deliver this much textual thickness and wonder.
There's something about how ambient the songs come through, but also how colorful and almost vivacious the approaches are.
It's like excitement and subtlety at the same time. The electronic elements, guitars, and at times, vocals, bring more of the upfront excitement factors, while synth pads and distanced instrumentation or vocals bring that depth or vastness.
All of this was well thought out, and each track is joined by a collaborator.
"Touchstone" brought in Melas Leukos, while "Over The Moon" featured Gracey Cane.
All of these were collaborations that producer and songwriter Alex Simon knew would come across a certain way.
The final mixdown of these songs is really what makes them so attractive and alluring.
The way the songs were mixed brings that ambience or vastness. Whoever worked on the mix of these, whether it was Alex himself or someone else, certainly knew their mission.
The aesthetic that was aimed at was completely nailed 100%.
This is music that you get engulfed by and eventually washed away with, but it feels amazing to do both of those things.
Listen to this one with headphones on so that you can drink in all of these layers and textures that are floating at you and inviting you to drift right alongside them.
You won't be disappointed.
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