Subdivisions by 400 Lonely Things
What sets 400 Lonely Things apart is its ability to turn seemingly mundane or discarded sonic artifacts into evocative, almost cinematic experiences. The project’s work resonates with fans of dark ambient, hauntology, and experimental sound design, offering a gateway into worlds where time has fractured and memories linger like spectral echoes. Subdivisions, the latest album from 400 Lonely Things, marks a departure from the project's conceptual and thematic approaches of the past. For the first time, there is no overarching narrative, no predefined agenda, just music existing in its purest form. Each track functions like a memory of a memory, a fleeting impression untethered to any specific story or framework. These pieces are nebulous journal entries, capturing the essence of a time, a place, and a mood.
Tracklist
| 1. | Subdivision | 4:37 |
| 2. | I Had That Dream Again | 5:21 |
| 3. | Ransom Lane | 4:29 |
| 4. | Conacine | 9:28 |
| 5. | Ravensback | 6:03 |
| 6. | Beclouded | 5:42 |
| 7. | Intravenus | 8:53 |
| 8. | Suggested Vision | 5:22 |
| 9. | Darker Places | 7:31 |
| 10. | Fathoms | 5:45 |
| 11. | Moth Eyes | 6:16 |
| 12. | Again I Had That Dream | 2:28 |
| 13. | Prolonged Deep Immersion | 5:27 |
Videos
Credits
released March 12, 2025
REVIEWS
Blow Up (issue of May 2025)
Unlike the excellent previous chapters by 400 Lonely Things, such as Mother Moon and The New Twilight—which I recently discussed and which also had a thematic continuity, the former of a literary nature, the latter cinematic—Craig Varian, for Subdivisions, has chosen to break free from that habit. That habit had effectively guided the listener’s imagination along a clearly traced path, rewarding attentive and immersive listening. The opening track, Subdivision, follows the lines of classic dark ambient. I Had That Dream Again immediately reveals a dreamlike dimension with loops used percussively and dull beats, with sounds stretching and chasing each other like vocal masses winding through reverberations. Ransom Lane raises suspicion with its unexpected bucolic, naturalistic references, allowing both tones of melancholic surrender and a vaguely dissonant crescendo. Conacine leans toward a spectral density, disrupted in its central part by a tangled, material snarl. In Ravensback, piano notes sound like a jammed music box, with compressed voices and overlapping animal calls. The sinister Beclouded moves like a thriller soundtrack. Darker Places and Fathoms are excursions bordering on the lysergic. The slow submersion staged by Prolonged Deep Immersion is accompanied by a female voice that, indifferent and echoing, repeats the title.
[7.8] Paolo Bertoni
Eighth Tower Magazine
www.patreon.com/posts/review-of-new-of-125440311
Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2025/03/22/amn-reviews-400-lonely-things-subdivisions-2025-unexplained-sounds-group/
Radioaktiv
www.radioaktiv.it/400-lonely-things-subdivisions
Vital Weekly
www.vitalweekly.net/number-1476
Ver Sacrum
www.versacrum.com/vs/2025/03/400-lonely-things-subdivisions.html
Luminous Dash
luminousdash.be/reviews/400-lonely-things-subdivisions-unexplained-sounds
Kathodik
www.kathodik.org/2025/03/19/400-lonely-things-subdivisions
This Is Darkness
This is one of those wonderful albums that warrants multiple plays, because each and every listen will offer something new to discover. In this day and age where there are so many albums being released, it’s so great to hear an artist who has their own unique sound and sense of identity. Stunning stuff!
www.thisisdarkness.com/2025/03/26/frozen-in-time-this-is-darkness-playlist-march-2025/
Igloo Magazine:
Ideal for those who enjoy trippy, thrilling electronic music with a bizarre, vaporous, and hauntological vibe....
igloomag.com/reviews/400-lonely-things-subdivisions-unexplained-sounds-group
Mark Hjortoy (Citr radio)
The heavy emotion that immediately comes off of a 400 Lonely Things album is powerful. I sink into each of Craig Varian’s creations with excitement and a slight apprehension. His ability to shift your thoughts mid piece is masterful. Sliding back and forth between reality and a fantasy world is a talent that can never be understated, and Craig does this with ease. Trapped between BOC and a world I’ve never been to sums this brilliant collection up perfectly. Another future classic!
400 Lonely Things employs a variety of occasional instrumentation but primarily uses obscure sampling to weave mostly instrumental melodic collages of melancholic texture and psychedelic drone. These weathered, loop-based introspective forays border on hauntology, dark ambient, experimental, electronic, plunderphonics and New Age music.
While 400 Lonely Things is a conceptual project in and of itself, much of their catalog is even more specifically conceptual - with albums reflecting on horror and science fiction and grief and art and (anti)conspiracy and the wistful passage of time. They have released 17 albums - most independently, but also on various labels, along with some split releases and compilation appearances.
Recording began in 1988 between members Craig Varian and Jonathan McCall, using various styles and names until the moniker "400 Lonely Things" arrived in 2002 - which was the same time that this particular thread of music was noticed. Jonathan McCall passed away in 2020, leaving Varian to pilot this cryptic mission of weaponized nostalgia as its sole member. Currently, Varian describes 400 Lonely Things as "Dark New Age for the New Dark Age" which seems close enough.
Recorded in May - August 2023 in The Bungalow at Rabbit Hollow
Mastered by Preston Wendel, Thanksgiving 2024
Published by Unexplained Sounds Group in collaboration with Dissipatio
Cat. Num. USG102
© 2025. All rights reserved
REVIEWS
Blow Up (issue of May 2025)
Unlike the excellent previous chapters by 400 Lonely Things, such as Mother Moon and The New Twilight—which I recently discussed and which also had a thematic continuity, the former of a literary nature, the latter cinematic—Craig Varian, for Subdivisions, has chosen to break free from that habit. That habit had effectively guided the listener’s imagination along a clearly traced path, rewarding attentive and immersive listening. The opening track, Subdivision, follows the lines of classic dark ambient. I Had That Dream Again immediately reveals a dreamlike dimension with loops used percussively and dull beats, with sounds stretching and chasing each other like vocal masses winding through reverberations. Ransom Lane raises suspicion with its unexpected bucolic, naturalistic references, allowing both tones of melancholic surrender and a vaguely dissonant crescendo. Conacine leans toward a spectral density, disrupted in its central part by a tangled, material snarl. In Ravensback, piano notes sound like a jammed music box, with compressed voices and overlapping animal calls. The sinister Beclouded moves like a thriller soundtrack. Darker Places and Fathoms are excursions bordering on the lysergic. The slow submersion staged by Prolonged Deep Immersion is accompanied by a female voice that, indifferent and echoing, repeats the title.
[7.8] Paolo Bertoni
Eighth Tower Magazine
www.patreon.com/posts/review-of-new-of-125440311
Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2025/03/22/amn-reviews-400-lonely-things-subdivisions-2025-unexplained-sounds-group/
Radioaktiv
www.radioaktiv.it/400-lonely-things-subdivisions
Vital Weekly
www.vitalweekly.net/number-1476
Ver Sacrum
www.versacrum.com/vs/2025/03/400-lonely-things-subdivisions.html
Luminous Dash
luminousdash.be/reviews/400-lonely-things-subdivisions-unexplained-sounds
Kathodik
www.kathodik.org/2025/03/19/400-lonely-things-subdivisions
This Is Darkness
This is one of those wonderful albums that warrants multiple plays, because each and every listen will offer something new to discover. In this day and age where there are so many albums being released, it’s so great to hear an artist who has their own unique sound and sense of identity. Stunning stuff!
www.thisisdarkness.com/2025/03/26/frozen-in-time-this-is-darkness-playlist-march-2025/
Igloo Magazine:
Ideal for those who enjoy trippy, thrilling electronic music with a bizarre, vaporous, and hauntological vibe....
igloomag.com/reviews/400-lonely-things-subdivisions-unexplained-sounds-group
Mark Hjortoy (Citr radio)
The heavy emotion that immediately comes off of a 400 Lonely Things album is powerful. I sink into each of Craig Varian’s creations with excitement and a slight apprehension. His ability to shift your thoughts mid piece is masterful. Sliding back and forth between reality and a fantasy world is a talent that can never be understated, and Craig does this with ease. Trapped between BOC and a world I’ve never been to sums this brilliant collection up perfectly. Another future classic!
400 Lonely Things employs a variety of occasional instrumentation but primarily uses obscure sampling to weave mostly instrumental melodic collages of melancholic texture and psychedelic drone. These weathered, loop-based introspective forays border on hauntology, dark ambient, experimental, electronic, plunderphonics and New Age music.
While 400 Lonely Things is a conceptual project in and of itself, much of their catalog is even more specifically conceptual - with albums reflecting on horror and science fiction and grief and art and (anti)conspiracy and the wistful passage of time. They have released 17 albums - most independently, but also on various labels, along with some split releases and compilation appearances.
Recording began in 1988 between members Craig Varian and Jonathan McCall, using various styles and names until the moniker "400 Lonely Things" arrived in 2002 - which was the same time that this particular thread of music was noticed. Jonathan McCall passed away in 2020, leaving Varian to pilot this cryptic mission of weaponized nostalgia as its sole member. Currently, Varian describes 400 Lonely Things as "Dark New Age for the New Dark Age" which seems close enough.
Recorded in May - August 2023 in The Bungalow at Rabbit Hollow
Mastered by Preston Wendel, Thanksgiving 2024
Published by Unexplained Sounds Group in collaboration with Dissipatio
Cat. Num. USG102
© 2025. All rights reserved
License
All rights reserved.
Global Network Of Aural Disorientation founded and curated by Raffaele Pezzella
Subsidiaries:
https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com
https://reversealignment.bandcamp.com
https://zerok.bandcamp.com
https://therecognitiontest.bandcamp.com
https://sonologyst.bandcamp.com
Magazine and Radio: https://www.patreon.com/eighthtower