The Third Eye

Spring might not officially arrive until March 20th in the Northern Hemisphere, but Saapato’s Spring at Home has been coaxing buds to bloom and skies to brighten since its November release. 

We picked up this cassette from Aural Canyon Records and have been basking in its warmth through the cold months, letting its ambient textures thaw the frost one note at a time.

Saapato is the sonic moniker of upstate New York-based sound artist Brendan Principato, whose work dissolves the boundaries between ecology and music. His immersive field recordings—shaped by residencies with the Alaska State Park Service and the National Park Service—capture the intricate rhythms of migratory birds, salmon runs, and coastal ecosystems, interweaving them with lush, organic synth-scapes. 

His past releases, Somewhere Else (Aural Canyon) and On Fire Island (Sound as Language), have cemented his place in the ambient music world, with the latter being hailed by PopMatters as the #2 ambient record of 2024. Spring at Home was also named one of November’s best ambient releases by Bandcamp.

Spring at Home’s core field recording—captured on April 17, 2023, at 7:26 PM in Milan, NY—anchors the piece in nature’s ephemeral chorus. Spring Peepers, Canada Geese, Red-winged Blackbirds, and other creatures lend their voices to the track, a fleeting moment in time preserved in sound. 

The organic symphony is then echoed and expanded by an arsenal of analog and digital synthesizers—Roland Juno 60, Moog Little Phatty, Teenage Engineering OP-1, and more—processed through an array of effects, bending and morphing like the natural cycles they mimic.

With Spring at Home, Saapato orchestrates a sonic ecosystem that’s alive, evolving, and deeply intertwined with the world it reflects. Let the sounds wash over you and gently settle into the feeling tones of the upcoming spring.

Check out Spring at Home by Saapato on Bandcamp here.