ANIMALIA NEWS
‘CONFLUENCE’ FILM RELEASE
December 19 2025
Tone Ranger (Alex Simon) steps into a new dimension with Confluence — not only his most expansive album yet, but now a handmade, dreamlike film that brings its mythic world to life. Written across the wild landscapes of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico and recorded everywhere from a van to a yurt to Santa Fe’s Animalia Studios, the album is a sweeping mosaic of field recordings, orchestral textures, and electronic pulse. It moves like a living ecosystem, drifting from enchanted forests to star-drenched deserts, from crashing synth horizons to Tone Ranger humming beside a campfire. The result is an intuitive, genre-defying body of work that feels as ancient as it is futuristic, inviting listeners into communion with the seen and unseen worlds.
The Confluence film evolved from the same inner landscape that shaped the music. For Alex, writing has always come paired with vivid imagery, and for years he held onto the vision of a magical forest, a journey through water, and a kind of communion with the stars. Directed and produced by his wife, Gabriella Sonabend Simon, the film unfolds inside a surreal pop-up book universe where Tone Ranger encounters beings of forest, sea, and sky.
Shot by Ryan Thompson and created through a process rooted entirely in hand-built artistry, the film blends performance, costume, collage, and stop-motion-style animation into something imaginative, tactile, and unmistakably human. “We hope the film invites people to connect with childlike wonder and encourages their own sense of play and creative adventure,” Alex says.
Thank you so much to our Kickstarter supports for making this possible!
WATCH THE FULL FIM HERE.
'NEVER BORN AGAIN'
EARTH SURFACE PEOPLE’S NEW MUSIC VIDEO IS A LOVE LETTER TO SOUTHERN ARIZONA, FEATURING THE COMMUNITY OF AVONDALE.
Directed by Ren Simone & filmed by Cheyenne Weston. A potent portrait of a vibrant culture in a time of political turbulence. We were so honoured to work on this album. Check out more from ESP here.
“In an era where folk-inspired music too often gets filed into quaint minimalism or rustic nostalgia, Melas Leukos carves a different path — one where the ancient and the intimate converge in a dreamlike current of sound and symbol..”
— WE WRITE ABOUT MUSIC
PRAISE FOR MELAS LEUKOS’S DEBUT ALBUM ‘VALIANT ONE’
Since the release of singer, songwriter, and sonic storyteller Melas Leukos debut album Valiant One she has been featured in We Write About Music, Galore, Guitar Girl Magazine, Medium, Rival Magazine, Muse Chronicle, Rockdafuqout and many more online magazines! Her luminous album traces the eternal spiral of death and rebirth. Steeped in myth, ceremony, and the wild intelligence of the natural world, the record dares to dwell in life’s underworld spaces—grief, loss, rupture—while carrying the listener toward moments of shimmering joy, sacred wonder, and wholeness. At its heart, Valiant One is both a personal odyssey and a universal hymn: an invocation to remain present with what hurts, to find beauty in unlikely places, and to embrace transformation as a holy act.
“It’s an album for people in the middle of their own spiral—those moving through grief, transition, and becoming,” says Leukos. “It’s for the wild ones, the soft-bellied ones, the ones who walk through the world listening.”
Speak God With Me
An introduction to the mystical world of Simon Mont
Poet, multi-instrumentalist, organizer Simon Mont announces the release of his debut EP Speak God With Me. Recorded at Animalia Studios and produced by Alex Simon, these epic spoken word pieces were written over a decade of intensive travel, study, self-reflection and creative exploration. Through Speak God With Me, Mont gives us a taste of his sophisticated, arresting form of poetry, that ascends to celestial heights and crashes down into the stickiest corners of everyday experience. Analysing modalities of the modern world, calling for acts of devotion, humbling himself in the face of awe-inspiring nature, this collection is so much more than music, a taste of a virtuosic catalogue soon to make its way into the world.
Mont performs multiple instruments on each song, genre shifting from hip-hop to avant-garde classical. With influences ranging from traditional religious songs to the most contemporary beat driven music - Mont’s palette is a potent blend of ancient and futuristic sounds.
“The three tracks on this EP are a prayer and call to action. Speak God With Me is an invitation to recognize the responsibility and magic that comes with our creative power. Fallen Angels celebrates our humanity while reminding us of our divinity, and Impregnated is a modern day version of a Sufi love ballad or the Song of Solomon which blurs lines between Earth, Self, and Source as it encourages us to participate in the love that infuses creation.” LISTEN HERE.
MORE ABOUT SIMON
Simon Mont is engaged in a deep practice of working with ancient consciousness, to envision how humans can be in the world, in a time of collective transition. Somewhere between a teacher, a community facilitator and a hermetic mystic - following a path of mystery - his music is so much more than a performance. Experienced in person, it is an invocation of the vision to which he dedicates all aspects of his life. In the written form his lyrics become like personal mantras, carried in his readers’ pocket, a quiet place to retreat into. As recordings, his works bring together experimental sonic tapestries with influences from hip-hop to traditional Jewish music.
Outside of his creative offerings, Simon is a community organiser, movement strategist and conflict engagement facilitator. Simon’s organization Harmonize is currently working with a number of non-profits and movement organizations focusing on reproductive and environmental justice and land sovereignty. These include the National Network of Abortion Funds, If Not Now, Earth Island Institute, and the Highlander Center. He was formerly the managing editor of Tikkun Magazine.
Every part of his work centers on the power of words and our ability to deepen our relationship to one another and the world, by reframing our use of language. To Simon, language is a living vessel of human spirit, a way to weave magic and carve out better futures.
STAY TUNED FOR MORE NEWS ON HIS COMMUNITY ORGANISING AND CREATIVE OFFERINGS.
EARTH SURFACE PEOPLE: YÁÁGO DOOTLIZH
This summer Earth Surface People released their sophomore album Yaago Dootlizh — an epic culmination of the talents of eight musicians spread across three states. Produced be Dakota Yazzie & Alex Simon in Animalia Studios. Joyous, mournful, optimistic, critical and accepting of the ups and downs of life, this sixteen track collection could only have been born out of sheer determination and true creative fusion.
Following a journey through a world of water where all beings and spirits co-exist, the album weaves everyday experiences with ancestral stories. Earth Surface People's potent songs explore the contradictions of living a life of deeper connection, in a time of modern problems. Says band leader Dakota Yazzie: "None of the album was pre determined... it was a process of bottling lightning or putting a muzzle on the wind."
Yaago Dootlizh refers to the color blue, in Diné Bizaad, it can refer to the verb "to be colored blue" or it can refer to "Blue underneath there (a place)" Band leader Dakota describes the album as "a perpetual act of blue, it's not a stagnant state, it flows like water. Improvisation, ingenuity, limitations on creativity, limitations on resources all narrowed this process to its synthesis."
With Nanibaah writing her own verses and leading on vocals, with her extraordinary range and tonal sensitivities that remind of Etta James, Amy Winehouse and Ella Fitzgerald, the album moves from sultry reprieves (Benz or Beemer & White Peach) into energetic anthems (Dance Me Outside) to the crushingly beautiful, stripped back Santa Fe Girl.
Ken Chavez & Lawrence Bailon drive the rhythm section, Chochise Yazzie leads on synths, Mike Gutierrez shreds on saxophone, Zachary Dominguez adds textural piano and Dakota Yazzie jumps between vocals and instruments. The result is an irrepressible sound, a heartfelt explosion of deep collaboration. Yaago Dootlizh is an expression of true interconnectivity that transcends the bounds of an album, a testament to the mutual respect and support of its members and surrounding community.
Since its release the album has been featured in Indie Tapes, Mystic Sons & York Calling.
Follow ESP for more updates and future releases.
“Confluence is not just a record, it is a deep listening experience that feels ancient and futuristic at the same time, grounding you while pushing you to look toward the stars.”
— EDM INSIDER
TONE RANGER’S SECOND ALBUM ‘CONFLUENCE’
REACHES FOR THE STARS
After years of crafting what fans lovingly dubbed “desert house,” multi-instrumentalist and sound explorer Tone Ranger (Alex Simon) steps into uncharted terrain with the release of Confluence — his most expansive and genre-defying album to date. Written between Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico and recorded from a van, a yurt, and Animalia Studios in Santa Fe, Confluence is a mystical mosaic of field recordings, orchestral textures, and electronic pulse. It’s a listening experience that invites the audience into communion with the seen and unseen worlds.
The music journeys through enchanted forests and epic mesas, through mycelial networks and starry skies. From the crashing synths of the opening track to the hushed intimacy of Tone Ranger humming beside a campfire, Confluence holds space for both the cosmic and the elemental. The album refuses categorization, weaving together indie electronic, ambient, orchestral, and experimental tones into something deeply intuitive and uniquely alive.
Since it’s release Confluence has been featured in Kaltblut Magazine, Earmilk, EDM Insiders, Electro Wow, Americana Highways, Rival Magazine, RAGMAG (any many others outlets!). Stay tuned for the release of the accompanying album film directed by Gabriella Sonabend Simon!
“With effortless indie swagger, Hataalii’s sixth album captures his hometown landscape, that feels at once rugged and visceral yet shimmered with a mirage of wistful spirit.”
— FAR OUT MAGAZINE
Painter, poet, multi-instrumentalist Hataałii presents his sixth album Waiting For A Sign produced by Alex Simon at Animalia Studios. As with everything Hataalii touches, this album is filled with mystery, poetry, deep insights into the state of the world and endless soul. Released by Dangerbird Records, this album was a treat to work on and we can’t wait to see what Hataalii does next!
LINDY VISION LET GO!
“A triumph of dazzling synthwave energy, ‘Let Go’ is a decisively attractive number. Introduced by a glorious cascade of synths goodness, reminiscent of the 80s but with a distinctively modern outlook, the track then jumps into simil-new wave territories, highlighted by Lindy Vision‘s raw and sleazy vocals, often in-between singing and spoken words. The result is an expansive and vibrant anthem, one that doesn’t let the listener down.” — MESMERIZED MAG
Let Go was produced at Animalia Studios by Alex Simon. Check out EVERYTHING these power sisters make. They are the embodiment of wild, raw, beautiful energy and vision.