Chill Out: Seeking Ecstatic Trance in Low-Tempo EDM

Downtempo electronic dance music culture (EDMC) genres were popularised from 1989; much like more up-tempo forms they have roots stretching back to the late 1960s and 1970s, with the White Room at Heaven nightclub a particularly important moment. Several variant forms, such as ambient, ambient dub, ambient techno, chill out, downtempo, ambient house, chill hop, and trip hop connect with ecstatic forms of trance; listeners use such music to induce states of relaxation, stillness, meditation, blissful somatic consciousness, euphoria, or to lower tension or stress levels, in various contexts.

This chapter traces the development of EDMC ambient and chill out music, and explores techniques used by musicians composing in such styles, examining how they interact with, for example, deep listening, time, space, flow states, entrainment, and mystical or spiritual traditions. Framed by phenomenology and embodiment, it discusses how specific approaches aim to manipulate the listener’s experiential perception, as well as their mood and state of consciousness. As well as the listener’s experience, the processes of chill out composers are considered, examining the affordances of chill out music.