*300 copies limited edition* Thinking Like a Mountain is the much-anticipated second album by ambient guitar composer From Overseas (aka Kévin Séry), who expands on the vistas and valleys of his début, Home (PITP, 2020), while reflecting on a half-decade that involved a transcontinental relocation and numerous other life changes. Most notably, the main threads weaving through these eight pieces are Séry’s experience as a new father and his graduate studies in Environmental Philosophy, both of which infuse the album’s sound with the kind of awestruck humility usually reserved for gazing up at timeless, cloud-draped peaks.

“Appalaches” opens with a gathering storm of overlapping tapped strings and a hopeful, resolute warmth that transforms into post-rock grandeur with krautrock pulses. It is a gripping statement of intent that establishes a new dimension to the sonic palette Séry has honed across his own body of work, as well as collaborations with the likes of zakè, City of Dawn, and awakened souls. On “Breathe”, we hear seemingly endless layers of depth, from slow-motion melodic respirations, to a glittering backdrop of aqueous drone, to the cleanly intoned bass guitar in the foreground. In these delicate arrangements, each note is a fluttering kite string, subject to the air currents that shift and swirl through the mix.

Dedicated to Séry’s infant son, “Howl of a Wolf, For E.” overflows with reverent adoration; reflecting on his inspiration, he notes, “Seeing him innocently discover the world and nature was totally in line with my philosophical studies, because through his eyes, an ant, a flower, a tree, and a bear are equally important and fascinating.” The humming undertow of “Le Secret Des Dunes” bears a kinship with the bass-led works of labelmate and mastering engineer James Bernard, reprising the woodsy tonalities that introduced the album and creating a throughline of organic grace that deepens in the context of its title. He explains, “‘Thinking like a mountain’ is a concept from Aldo Leopold, where one sees everything as an ecosystem, a vast interconnection in which all actions affect the ecological balance… I think this philosophy can and should be applied to everything we do.”

“Inner Necessity” is one of a few pieces here that date back to the era of Home, having been refined as a standard in Séry’s live performance repertoire. Here, form falls away and sustained, bowed notes pierce the calm like bursts of light, occupying the whole stereo field with tactile texture and full-spectrum bliss, a sunrise seen from atop a remote cliffside. By the time we reach the album closer, “Infinite”, there is a sense of only getting started: a languid guitar theme is slowly overcome by avalanches of immense, harmonic drones and striking beauty. It is a finale of tremendous substance and movement that nevertheless feels weightless as it evaporates from the speakers.

As he navigates a life of renewed understanding and purpose, an artist like Séry uses his craft to create views of what could be, from a reality where genuine creativity and environmental awareness are increasingly complicated prospects. Thinking Like a Mountain is his undaunted statement of soft power amid the noise, haste, and myopia; “In other words,” he says, “it is the peaceful strength I hope to always demonstrate and pass on to my son as he grows up and we face the uncertainties of the future together.”