Gravity of the Ocean by Aliya Lark
- Arashk Azizi
- Jul 21
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 21
Gravity of the Ocean by Aliya Lark, the London-based neoclassical composer and pianist, is a six-track instrumental work that blends felt piano, ambient textures, delicate strings, and subtle electronics. Released on July 18, 2025, the album marks the next step in her emotionally nuanced musical storytelling, a sound world already praised by BBC Radio 3 and featured on Spain's AD21 Music. Following her earlier Sparks EP and singles like Cold Shores and Swallowtail, Lark deepens her artistic language in this latest release, crafting a record that is both introspective and cinematic.
A Tapestry of Harmonic Flow and Textural Depth
The six instrumental pieces that form Gravity of the Ocean are all rooted in the expressive range of the piano. But this isn’t a solo piano album in the traditional sense. Lark’s use of strings, synths, and field recordings expands the sonic palette, giving each piece a spatial, almost visual quality. The felt piano, rich with mechanical texture from hammer action and key noise, gives the compositions a percussive yet soft presence, an acoustic fragility made more intimate by the ambient treatments layered throughout.
This effect is very clear in my favorite piece of the album “White Poppy”, the layered melody line entangled in the arpeggio, in a way that at times they are not recognisable from each other, is accompanied with the harmonic bed of the strings that at points acts as counter melody.
From a harmonic standpoint, the music avoids sudden or dramatic shifts. The transitions are fluid and seamless, creating a floating harmonic atmosphere. This does not suggest a lack of depth—in fact, the compositions are rich in subtle modulations and layered structures, but they unfold gradually. The piano arpeggios, sustained legato lines in the strings, and ambient pads collectively form a sonic bed that moves like water, without strong edges or rhythmic breaks. There are no sharp cadences or syncopated surprises; instead, each track flows into the next, as if part of a single continuous arc.
The melodic writing enhances this feeling. Rather than distinct, closed phrases, Lark composes in extended, open-ended melodic gestures. The result is a sense of perpetual motion, a narrative without chapters, a story without hard cuts. This approach offers a meditative listening experience that resists resolution, encouraging the listener to remain suspended within the music’s emotional resonance.
Continuity and Thematic Cohesion in Gravity of the Ocean
The EP opens with “Drowning in the Dark” and progresses through “White Poppy,” the title track “Gravity of the Ocean,” the heart of the album, with a melody that I’d say is the most sentimental in the album, is followed by the deeply emotional “Reeds Rustled,” and gloomy atmosphere of “Cold Shores” The album closes with “Whirl,” a cascade of andante arpeggios.
While each piece stands alone—complete with its own intro and closing gesture—the album’s true strength lies in its cohesive arc. The transitions between tracks are so masterfully handled that the listener may not immediately sense the shift from one to the next. Despite subtle changes in key, tempo, and instrumental focus, the mood remains constant: reflective, slightly melancholic, yet never stagnant.
The album doesn’t aim for narrative clarity in a literal sense, but it does carry an emotional story line, a gentle evolution that suggests memory, solitude, and the slow, graceful movement of emotional states. There is no dramatic climax or cathartic ending. Rather, the emotional arc mirrors the ebb and flow of the ocean—as implied by the title—a natural rhythm of tension and release that never fully resolves.
Final thought on Gravity of the Ocean by Aliya Lark
Gravity of the Ocean by Aliya Lark offers a beautifully restrained, emotionally textured listening experience. It rewards close, patient listening, unfolding gradually like a memory returning in fragments. Lark’s work stands apart in its refusal to overstate or dramatize. Instead, she invites us into a world of quiet resilience, of small movements that carry great emotional weight.
For listeners of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, or Hauschka, this EP will feel familiar yet fresh, deeply personal in its voice and technically refined in its execution. Gravity of the Ocean is not just music to hear, but music to inhabit.
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