Once confined to yoga studios and wellness retreats, sound baths have entered the mainstream, appearing at music festivals, art museums, and even symphony halls. The ancient practice of using resonant sound for healing, dating back to Tibetan singing bowls, Indigenous drumming, and Greek music therapy, is being reimagined by a new wave of artists.
Modern sound healing traces its roots to the pioneering work of figures like Paul Horn, whose flute recordings inside the Taj Mahal in the 1960s brought meditative resonance to Western audiences, and Laraaji, the zither-playing mystic discovered by Brian Eno, whose laughing meditation workshops helped shape the ambient spiritual movement.
In the 1980s and ’90s, artists like Steven Halpern and Iasos pushed the boundaries of “inner music,” creating lush soundscapes designed for cellular-level relaxation and consciousness expansion.
Today, the lineage continues as a new generation expands the definition of sound healing, incorporating analog synthesizers, immersive environments, and community-based rituals into the practice.
The list below highlights 15 notable figures, small labels, and collectives from the U.S. and abroad shaping the contemporary sound bath landscape, blending ancient wisdom with modern sound design.
Fractals of Sound – San Francisco, California
This Bay Area collective performs monthly sound bath events at Grace Cathedral, one of the most acoustically resonant spaces on the West Coast. Using alchemy crystal bowls, chanting, and live instrumentation, their performances are designed for large audiences and emphasize both immersive sound and spiritual resonance.
Fractals of Sound official website
Ichiko Aoba – Tokyo, Japan
Aoba is a singer and composer whose ambient folk-inspired albums are increasingly used in therapeutic and meditative contexts. Her February 2025 release, Luminescent Creatures, received international attention for its calming, immersive sound, which was recorded in part during travel through Japan’s Ryukyu Islands.
Elf Freedom – Los Angeles, California
Elf Freedom is a Los Angeles-based psychedelic collective offering immersive sound baths that blend healing intention with experimental music. Founded by sound healer Nora Keyes and musician Bee Appleseed, their sessions feature voice, percussion, synths, and ambient drones to guide participants into deep relaxation and awareness.
Often held in unconventional spaces, these sound baths draw from kosmische, folk, and spiritual traditions. Albums like Solstice mirror their live sessions, but the core experience is communal and meditative, inviting listeners to lie down, tune in, and receive what the group calls transmissions from the “Elf Dimension.”
Forest Management (John Daniel) – Chicago, Illinois
Operating in the liminal zone between ambient and spiritual drone, his music is deeply meditative and often used in private sound bath sessions. Think of it as sound healing filtered through a dreamlike fog.
Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness – Texas
A mysterious psychedelic folk collective known for ritualistic performances involving masks, drones, and ancient instrumentation. Their music has a shamanic undertone that borders on sonic exorcism.
Anna Homler (aka Breadwoman) – California
An avant-garde voice artist whose improvisational glossolalia (invented languages) and ritualistic soundscapes tap into deep meditative and healing frequencies. Collaborates often with experimental musicians.
Ka Baird – U.S. / Global
Performs ecstatic, breath-based sound rituals that blend extended vocal techniques, field recordings, and experimental flutes. Think spiritual performance art meets deep trancework.
Golden Brown – Colorado
Golden Brown is the ambient project of Colorado-based musician Stefan Beck, known for crafting tranquil soundscapes that blend ambient, psychedelic folk, cosmic Americana, and new age.
Beck creates meditative compositions ideal for introspection and sound healing using guitar, lap steel, and keyboards. Albums like Kindness and Wide Ranging Rider feature gentle, modal improvisations and minimal layering that evoke natural landscapes and inner stillness.
A member of the ambient ensemble Prairiewolf, Beck’s work bridges the gap between rustic folk traditions and spacious, contemplative sound.
KMRU – Kenya / Berlin
Known for his ambient and field recording-based compositions, KMRU’s works can feel like environmental healing tools, long, textural pieces perfect for mindful listening and contemplative sound immersion.
Yialmelic Frequencies (Diva Dompé) – Los Angeles, California
A former psych-pop musician turned sound channeler who creates cosmic healing frequencies purportedly received from extraterrestrial beings. Her live performances double as meditative downloads from higher realms.
Moon Glyph – Portland, Oregon
Moon Glyph is a Portland-based label specializing in ambient, experimental, and psychedelic music with a strong focus on sound healing. Founded by Steve Rosborough, the label’s releases often double as meditation, breathwork, and sound bath tools.
Compilations like Amethyst feature artists such as Electric Sound Bath, while others, like Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice, offer jazz-infused, ethereal tones ideal for inner exploration. With its handmade cassette and vinyl aesthetic, Moon Glyph curates sonic journeys that resonate with spiritual and therapeutic listeners.
Aural Canyon – Texas
Aural Canyon is a Texas-based cassette label focused on sound healing, deep listening, and meditative music. Founded by Matthew Hanner in 2017, the label curates ambient, drone, and experimental releases designed to foster introspection and emotional restoration.
Notable albums include Recovery II, supporting neurodiverse listeners, and Now Zoning, a live ambient performance recorded in nature. With a tactile, analog aesthetic, Aural Canyon offers limited-edition releases as tools for spiritual grounding and inner exploration.
Sounds of the Dawn – U.S.
A reissue and archival label focused on new age and healing music from the ’70s–’90s, plus select new work. Think guided meditations, healing synths, and nature recordings.
Leaving Records – Los Angeles, CA
Run by Matthew “Matthewdavid” McQueen, this label releases experimental and new-age music with a healing bent. Its “Listen to Music Outside in the Daylight Under a Tree” series is literally designed for open-air deep listening.
Inner Islands – Oregon
Founded by Braden J McKenna and now run by Sean Conrad, this label offers expansive ambient, kosmische, and organic drone intended for inner exploration and spiritual presence.
The rise of personal practice
While prominent facilitators continue to shape the field, sound healing is becoming increasingly individualized. Streaming platforms now host thousands of sound bath recordings, and affordable crystal bowls and tuning tools are driving a wave of at-home practice.
Sound baths may still straddle the line between performance and therapy, but the field is becoming more sophisticated, global, and interdisciplinary. As scientific interest in vibrational healing grows, so too does the potential for these artists to shape the future of how we listen and heal.
And in a chaotic time like this, we all need a little sonic healing.
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