Jefre Cantu-Ledesma gifts five selections in celebration of his latest album on Mexican Summer.

One of our favorite ambient records of the year so far, multi-instrumentalist composer Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s latest on Mexican Summer is a slow-moving, healing force of a record. Recorded in an old horse barn in the Hudson Valley, Gift Songs flows and drones with the rhythms of the natural world: running water, quiet rivers, wind through the trees.

Much like his last solo album under his own name, Gift Songs features an ensemble of brilliant collaborators including Omer Shemesh (piano, arrangements), Joseph Weiss (engineering, bass guitar), Clarice Jensen (cello), and Booker Stardrum (percussion), while Cantu-Ledesma’s pump organ, guitar, Hammond B3, and modular synthesizers blend in with the layering and interplay of sounds. “For me, it’s interesting just to try to create the conditions for people to work together and get music kind of rolling and then pull out things that I think are interesting,” he has said. “And in the moment, try to sculpt a bit.”

20-minute-long opener “The Milky Sea” takes its time subtly shifting through the seasons. Organic and introspective, the natural quality of the recording makes it sound almost like a field recording at times with Cantu-Ledesma’s fluid rustling of modular synthesizer, Stardrum’s earthy percussion, and Jensen’s cello drones. Gift Songs I-III are a little more minimal with just piano and drone. The compositions’ quiet beauty and elegance remind us a bit of Dominique Lawalree or even Ernest Hood’s Neighborhoods. Highly recommended for both home (Gift Songs) and deep listening (The Milky Sea)!

In celebration of the release of Gift Songs, Cantu-Ledesma shared five recent favorites, poolside jams, obscurities, and eternal classics.

Salenta + Topu – Moon Set, Moon Rise (2023)

Big favorite around our house. Instant mood setter. Simple mesmerizing tunes that float through the air. You feel like you’re listening in on someone else’s dreams. Gotta love the production too. 

Jess Sah Bi & Peter One – Our Garden Needs Its Flowers (1985)

Perennial poolside jams for my daughter and I. It’s music made of joy and love and sunshine. Makes you want to smile, swim and hug your friends and family. Isn’t that the whole point? 

Catherine Christer Hennix – Further Selections from the Electric Harpsichord (2024)

So happy that a number of archival and new works of Hennix’s have been released the last few years. This ones a proper brain melter. Don’t skim through, or you’ll miss the magic. Let it consume you. 

Kim Doo Soo – Evening River (2010)

Music from another time and place. Another world maybe. Singular, timeless. Saw him in a small little space in Berlin years ago. Sat mesmerized at his feet.

DJ Rashad – Double Cup (2013)

I don’t know what to say. You’re moved or you’re not. No middle ground here. I’ve spent the last decade with this record with no sign of it fading from rotation. Vibrant music, effervescent with life force, with creativity energy that just springs out of the speakers. RIP Rashad.