New White Noise App Featuring Music by Mary Lattimore, clipping., Kelly Moran and More

Fuzzzel is a new “artisanal white noise” app from esteemed music journalist, programmer, and Stereogum contributor Christopher R. Weingarten, who has assembled an impressive cast of collaborators for today’s release. Oscar-nominated indie-rock composer/arranger Owen Pallett, harp genius Mary Lattimore, experimental pianist Kelly Moran, ambient heroine Eluvium, hip-hop innovators clipping., and wildlife recordist Chris Watson all have soundscapes in the original Fuzzzel, available now on the Apple App Store.

Each track is presented on Fuzzzel in an infinite loop with a video provided by the artist. “One of my core beliefs about experimental music is that there is no ‘correct’ way to listen to it,” Weingarten says in a press release. “I’ve intentionally left Fuzzzel abstract. Play these tracks quietly or loudly. Use them for daydreaming or for concentration. Use them as ambient noise or as your favorite jams. They’re open spaces for your own desires and needs.” He adds, “When I started approaching these artists, many of them told me they had already come up with custom white noise solutions for their own lives. I’m excited to bring these personal tracks to the world and let people connect with them in their own way.”

Each of the six artists provided a statement about the music they contributed to Fuzzzel, which is included in the app along with the music and images. Here’s Owen Pallett on “Wake (i)”:

I started practicing yoga seriously in 2012, going to a studio by my house three times a week. Their music selection always distracted me. I remember getting into a pigeon pose sequence that started with a Fleet Foxes song. I was sweating on my yoga mat, thinking, This is probably the worst context in which to listen to Fleet Foxes. I like Fleet Foxes in the car or while cooking. I don’t like Fleet Foxes when I’m trying to do pigeon pose.

This got me thinking about my ideal musical accompaniment for a practice like yoga—not just yoga, but any kind of practice that has a mindfulness element. Ambient music tends to be repetitive, which I didn’t want. New age music makes me feel alienated. Classical music just makes me think about my day job. I’ve been thinking about this problem for years.

Then, in 2024, Christopher Weingarten emailed me out of the blue, asking if I wanted to be paid to make white noise for him. I immediately said yes, without knowing the details. When he described the Fuzzzel app and what the noise was for, I immediately felt like my “yoga music” problem had been solved with his suggestion.

I thought about this and built a synth patch in my head that I called a “noise organ” – white noise brushed through resonant filters to allow improvisation. I built a patch and recorded a series of tracks; one of them was “Wake (i)”. I hope you find it clear and useful.

Mary Lattimore on “bandage deals”:

I wrote this after taking my friend to the hospital in an emergency. I used copper handbells, a Lyon & Healy Style 30 concert grand harp, and a Moog Mother-32.

Kelly Moran on “Solina”:

“Solina” is a drone meditation I composed on my Prophet 12 synthesizer. Throughout the piece there are several timbral shifts that follow one major harmonic shift. It is my sonic representation of a glacier melting. This video was shot on a cross-country road trip in Ireland, with our final destination being the massive, awe-inspiring Cliffs of Moher.

Chris Watson on “Tramuntana”:

Recorded at Cap de Creus, Spain in March 2024. Cap de Creus is a peninsula and cape located in the far north-east of Catalonia, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of the border with France. It is the easternmost point of Catalonia, and therefore of mainland Spain and the Iberian Peninsula. It was very, very windy indeed. At Cap de Creus, the wild honeycomb patterns of exposed rock are crushed by an invisible force, and an aeolian howl echoes from the landscape, evoking madness. The voice of an Iberian wolf or a lost human soul?

William Hutson of clipping. on “A Place To Be Still”:

Twenty-three minutes and 31 seconds of engine noise from an abandoned space freighter. Off course, presumably crashed, carried by directives written generations ago, light-years ago. Forgotten. The howling emptiness, the calm of autopilot, the lack of awareness, the unimaginable scale of the universe—I don’t know, it helps me sleep.

The audio for “A Place to Be Still” was constructed from a number of “space” backgrounds that we created for our album Splendor & Misery. Each environment represents a different room within the interstellar ship that the album’s story takes place on. Some of the sounds come from recordings of Graham Stephenson playing the trumpet. The associated image is a photograph of the Horsehead Nebula by Paul Edmondson.

Eluvium about “Torn & Blooming”:

it’s hard to translate
ocean of feelings
tearing you apart
and all your insides bloom
in an endless cycle
destruction and rebirth

I’ve played around with Fuzzzel a bit and can confirm that it’s great both while awake and asleep, for disconnection and deep concentration. Get it here.