Label Watch: Bathysphere Records

It’s said quite often, but music publications like this are all about discovering. The thrill of the chase, and while some submissions don’t resonate enough or get under the skin to justify column inches, others make this often tireless vocation truly worth it.

Bathysphere Records is the latest, and while our Label Watch feature is very much a sporadic concern, it’s one that I wish I had more time for.

Predominantly dealing in cassette releases, the Los Angeles label was formed at the beginning of 2023 by Cristina Cano, Justin Longerbeam, and James Phillips. So far, the label has 12 releases under its belt.

Bathysphere is all about escapism through the lens of experimentation. Open space and the environment captured through sound. Through this portal, many of the artists who have featured on the label so far have identified the simple fact that the best things in life are often free. This is Bathysphere’s modus operandi. Free in body and mind, finding the middle ground between escapism and meditation.

The label first came to my attention via the excellent New Zealand duo, Winterwood, who were the first international act to feature on Bathysphere with their Caelestis album. Label co-founders, Cano and Longerbeam, have also released music via the label various guises, including Volcano Lazerbeam and in collaboration, most notably alongside Saroon, Robert Chamberlain and Sumner James for the Dive 1: Refraction release.

Last month, Cano, Longerbeam and Phillips answered our questions about the label and how it all began.  

Label Watch: Waxing Crescent Records

Sun 13: Can you tell us what the inspiration was behind starting the Bathysphere Records?

Bathysphere Records: “The three of us that started the label, have been friends and collaborators for over a decade. The more music we made together and apart, the more it made sense to create an umbrella for it to live under. We all have experience working in the backend of the music industry. We have run studios, managed labels, worked in distribution, toured, and collaborated with publishing and sync houses. We started having discussions about how we could put our experience in the industry to use to help release and support the growing amount of music that we and members of our community were making. We wanted to make small physical runs and hoped to find a receptive audience for it all.

“Ambient and instrumental music has always been a profound source of inspiration for each of us, and we envisioned a roster where artists could share unique projects, devoid of any external pressure. We also wanted to nurture new works by bringing groups of artists together to collaborate.

“The concept of the Bathysphere—an early submarine prototype diving into the depths of the ocean—resonated with us, symbolising our desire to explore sound and resurface with our findings.”

S13: With the arts seemingly deprived of everything these days, did it feel like a baptism of fire to start a label in such an economic climate?

BR: “There’s no doubt that the current state of the music industry is dismal and continuing to get worse. We knew that going into starting a label, we wanted to emphasise small batches of physical releases, and downplay streaming options. We still make records available on streaming, but we’ve experimented with only releasing the A side of a record to streaming platforms. We’ll continue to experiment with those ideas. We’re music lovers and we all collect physical media. There is something to collecting art in a tangible format, holding it in your hands, and knowing that you are not only supporting an artist, but that you own something that will last beyond the streaming era. It’s wild to observe how much artists can recoup through the sale of physical releases compared to digital streaming.” 

Volcano Lazerbeam: Union

S13: From the outside, it feels like a real community-focused label. Did you know a lot of the artists who feature on the label before releasing their music?

BR: “We knew some, yes! From years of collaboration, or from being fans of the music coming out of our direct communities. A lot of these relationships were formed with our fellow artists, and we wanted to create this support system to release records that we love. One big objective has been to create opportunities for musicians to come together in person and collaborate. As a label we want to foster the creation of works that might not otherwise exist. 

“Dive 1: Refraction marked the beginning of an ongoing series of in-person collaborations for us. For this first session, we wanted to collaborate with all of the label heads as well as two artists that we had released solo works for earlier in the year, Robert Chamberlain, and Saroon. Everyone came together at James Phillips’ recording studio in NC, and we recorded an evening of improvisation. That was taken back to LA and edited, and then sent off to Ayal Alves of Saroon, who tied the whole work together with his incredible woodwind arrangements. We really love how it all turned out and think that there is something special about bringing people together in physical spaces to capture improvisation and the ephemeral, that’s worth investing in.

“In March 2024, we extended the next Dive collaboration to the West Coast with a fun session held in Portland, Oregon. Bringing together various artists, some familiar faces from our roster and some newer faces, the outcome was incredible. We are really excited to share Dive 2 this year, and to continue bringing people together in whatever ways we can.”

S13: I like how the artwork has a continuity through each release. Was this a key focus of yours from the outset? 

BR: “We’re all music lovers and collectors of physical releases and think that it can be as rewarding to follow a label as it can be to follow an artist. Some of our favourite labels have imagery on the cover art or packaging that lets fans know the work exists under that particular umbrella, and we wanted to carry on that tradition. For the most part, the artists on the label have provided their own artwork for each release, and we incorporate our logo and design from the physical release, if the artist is open to it.”

S13: How much have your immediate surroundings played influence to what you have chosen to release on the label?

BR: “Our surroundings definitely play an important part in inspiring us musically. We live in totally different landscapes and that is often reflected in our music. James’ studio in North Carolina is surrounded by lush trees, and he says that the music on our roster is great for looking out the window and reflecting. Cristina and Justin’s studio is at the beach, and they often find inspiration from the ocean. Nature, space, and the unknown realm is a constant theme in the Bathysphere roster. Across the Bathysphere catalogue, on releases like Fog Net’s Headlands’ and Volcano Lazerbeam’s Union, you’ll find field recordings and cover art that impart a sense of the surroundings where the music is being made or that it’s inspired by. 

“Dive 1: Refraction is a great example of this. Our intention with the album was to craft a soundscape reflective of diving into the depths of the ocean, starting from the surface and descending gradually to the mysterious deep. Each track serves as a chapter in this exploration. We did a bit of research about light refraction as it penetrates deeper into the ocean, and considered how this translates both sonically and emotionally.”

Here’s beginners guide into the world of Bathysphere Records, with some of the most notably releases on the label so far.

Brass Clouds: Escape Vessels

Brass Clouds is the project of Portland, Oregon producer, engineer, Dustin Dybvig, who last August made his Bathysphere debut with Escape Vessels.

On Escape Vessels, Dybvig brings together opposing sound worlds and somehow makes it work in mystical ways. Pitting lounge and acid jazz against classical and ambient composition, if you listen carefully the thread is bound with an environmental aspect at play; the sound of sea water or waterfalls in the distance echoing under the mix.

Escape Vessels is meditative but in a different way compared to the other works under the Bathysphere stable.

Alan Graves: Prophet Collider

Alan Graves is another of Justin Longerbeam’s projects, and under this alias, Prophet Collider marks the second release for the label.

While his collaborative work under the Volcano Lazerbeam guise alongside Cristina Cano and the Dive series with Sumner James, Robert Chamberlain and Saroon are inspired by the earthy landscapes, on Prophet Collider, the experimentalist reaches beyond, with orbit in sight.

The title, born from equipment that features on record (a DSI Prophet synthesizer and Source Collider FX pedal), Longerbeam creates the kind of snythscapes that create the image of debris floating through space. Quite removed from the mediative meanderings of the projects noted above, with Prophet Collider another feather in his cap.   

Sumner James: I Could Just Go on Forever

Duham, North Carolina’s Sumner James cut the ribbon for Bathysphere with its first release, I Could Just Go on Forever.

Also the member of the band, Bombadil, James – who also features in later chapters of the label’s story, including the wonderful collaboration with Z Pocket for Piano + Clarinet – explores the grainy textural sonics of ambient music and electro-folk. It’s a kind of dream state affair that goes beyond the minimalism of, say, Jayve Montgomery.

James plays between the lines of industry and untrodden recesses. Escaping the noise of densely populated areas for something more tranquil, I Could Just Go on Forever plays out as the backdrop to that.

Siren and the Sea: Gravity Waves

One half of Volcano Lazerbeam, Cristina Cano goes it alone under the Siren and the Sea moniker, and with various releases already to boot, her first under Bathysphere is Gravity Waves.

With glittery, spatial synths and wonky tones that slowly undulate, Gravity Waves is like one of those celestial moments that unfolds in slow-motion. Cano delivers something that is multi-layered and deep with texture, but it’s as soothing as anything released on the label so far.

At eight tracks running up to 40 minutes, Gravity Waves is a rolling, atmospheric dreamscape that simply massage the mind.

Scott Solter & Rohner Segnitz: The Murals

Free spirit, Scott Solter, makes ambient music between the lines, and this time the shapeshifting producer teams up with Rohner Segnitz for The Murals.

Aside from the stunning artwork that continues the running theme of the label, The Murals sees the pair produce compositions built for all seasons. With textures that range from grainy to pristine, in many ways Solter and Segnitz create something that embodies the Bathysphere experience.

There’s darkness, hope, and everything in between, which is why The Murals may be the perfect entry point for those not yet familiar with the label.

Former Label Watch features:

Ramble Records
Trouble In Mind Records
Strange Mono
Cruel Nature Records
Waxing Crescent Records