New Age
Located in 1 route
The broad umbrella of gentle, mostly instrumental music aimed at relaxation, spirituality and inner well-being: consonant, unhurried melodies over synth pads, acoustic piano, flute, harp, guitar and world instruments, with soft dynamics, generous reverb and little rhythmic aggression. It prizes atmosphere, positivity and a sense of the sacred or natural over harmonic tension, and ranges from beatless soundscape to lush melodic instrumental. The defining traits are calm, accessibility and an intention toward healing, contemplation or transcendence.
History
New age coalesced in mid-1970s California and Germany from ambient, minimalism, folk, jazz-fusion and Eastern devotional music, with Steven Halpern's Spectrum Suite (1975) a founding release and Japan's Kitaro bringing melodic synth mysticism. Labels including Windham Hill, Narada, Private Music and Hearts of Space built the market through the 1980s, the Grammy category was established in 1987, and acts like Enya, Yanni, George Winston and Andreas Vollenweider carried the sound to multi-platinum mainstream success. Though critically derided, it sold enormously, splintered into dozens of wellness sub-styles, and its DNA now underlies much sleep, spa and meditation streaming.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Mark Prendergast, The Ambient Century (2000)
- Grammy Award for Best New Age Album category history (est. 1987)
- AllMusic New Age genre essay