NYC-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Carlos Dengler wraps up the year with a mesmerizing and transcendent new album, The After, which explores the process of transfiguration and spiritual journey from the earth’s soil to the afterlife.
Through its refreshing spiritual exploration and wide range of instrumental tones and textures, the new compositions on The After invoke reverent, uplifting and dreamy experiences in listeners. The opening track, “Extremophile,” opens the doorway to a new world filled with interlocking melodic phrases that keep getting stronger and continue into the following tracks that expand on its natural influences. This expansion occurs as the following seven tracks add in aquatic animal clicking sounds, water sounds, distant frogs, ethereal singing, calming sensations, harps and gongs, culminating with the meditative title track “The After.”
Born and raised in Queens, New York, Dengler’s appreciation of ambient and experimental music became evident during his years at New York University, where he started Theatrum Aethereum, a WNYU radio show dedicated to ethereal goth and dark ambient music, in 1997. During his years at NYU, he co-founded the band Interpol, and served as original bass player and keyboardist until 2010. Over the years, Dengler took his talents to stages for theatrical performers and disk jockeys, essay publications, film composition and scoring.
Carlos Dengler returned to music in 2022, bringing an innovative charm to ambient music. He self-released an EP with 4 tracks, Ecospheres, and an LP with 9 tracks, Aqueduct. Earlier this summer, Dengler released Private Earth–an ode to the interconnectedness of nature–to positive critical reception from various publications including New Music Alert, Artisan Music Reviews and The JW Vibe. The After serves as a seamless transition from his sonic reflection on nature that was Private Earth by focusing on the humanistic transcendance from nature to the afterlife.
Fans of Dengler’s new music experience the intricate blending of his Gothic 1990s roots (especially the neoclassical variety popularized by Dead Can Dance), with his passion for the ambient works of “spiritual minimalists” like Arvo Pärt and Henryk Gorecki. Dengler’s recent works have been welcomed in the New Age and Ambient community with enthusiastic reviews and support from global media such as Chuck van Zyl/STAR’S END, NPR’s Tones & Drones Podcast, SiriusXM Spa, The Morning Breeze, Contemporary Fusion Reviews, Modul303.
Music writer Robin James observes, “The music of The After opens a garden of spiritual themes, such as transfiguration, the good life, an important connection with the soil, as well as with the concept of afterlife itself. The cello is divine, the innovative vocals are astonishing, the use of natural sounds is subtle, the sound is always changing; the ride is smooth.”
Cellist Paul Brantley and vocalist Cynthia Cook accompany the album. Brantley’s cello can be heard on the tracks, “Mirrored Moss” and “The Harvest,” and gives listeners a feeling of ascension into the sweet unknown. Cynthia Cook’s vocals on the track, “Silent Veil,” has a similar effect with a hint of translucency and ethereality. Cover design was created by Nathan Youngblood.
The After is now available on all streaming platforms. For more information, visit www.CarlosDengler.com.
For interview requests, or a Dropbox link, please contact BethHilton@TheBCompany.com
TRACKLIST
Extremophile (06.53)
Mirrored Moss (07.51)
Silent Veil (07.00)
The Harvest (05.40)
Preparation (08.22)
Gift to the Fire (08.58)
Tomorrow’s Halls (07.06)
The After (12.13)
