Ambient explorers Hammock have unveiled details of their forthcoming album The Second Coming Was A Moonrise, set for release on 22nd May, alongside two striking new tracks that showcase the breadth and emotional depth of their evolving sound.
Hammock
The Nashville-based duo—Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson—continue to blur the lines between ambient, post-rock and neoclassical composition with the release of Chemicals Make You Small and The Unsetting Sun. The former stands out as one of the album’s rare vocal-led moments, featuring contributions from Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips. Coyne’s unmistakable voice drifts through the track’s hazy, introspective atmosphere, adding a fragile human element to Hammock’s typically instrumental palette.
Meanwhile, The Unsetting Sun leans into the duo’s signature slow-building compositions, unfolding with a meditative patience that reflects the album’s wider themes of reflection, perception and emotional gravity.
Now more than two decades into their career, Hammock remain committed to a sonic identity that resists easy categorisation. Their work has often been described using a wide range of genre tags, but at its core lies a consistent, immersive blueprint—layered guitars, choral textures and vast, cinematic soundscapes that balance intimacy with enormity.
The Second Coming Was A Moonrise builds on that foundation while pushing into new territory. Self-produced and mixed by longtime collaborator Emery Dobyns, the record spans ten compositions that move between quiet introspection and sweeping, otherworldly scale. From the evocatively titled Everything You Love Is Buried In The Ground Or Scattered Into Space to the gradual ascent of The Unsetting Sun, the album promises a deeply transportive listening experience.
The album’s concept stems from a formative moment in Byrd’s youth, when a misinterpreted moonrise during an LSD experience led him to believe he was witnessing the Rapture—an idea shaped by his fundamentalist upbringing. That moment now informs a broader meditation on perception, belief and the process of letting go.
As with much of Hammock’s catalogue, language is used sparingly, with much of the album remaining instrumental. When vocals do appear, they carry heightened emotional weight, cutting through the dense atmospheres with clarity and intent. Contributions from a close-knit circle of collaborators—including Christine Byrd, Matt Kidd, Matthew Doty, Chad Howat and Jake Finch—further enrich the record’s textured sound world.
With The Second Coming Was A Moonrise, Hammock once again demonstrate their ability to craft music that feels both grounded and celestial—an enveloping body of work that invites listeners to slow down, reflect and lose themselves in its vast emotional landscape.
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