Pittsburgh dungeon synth act Hillsfar expands his sound on his most recent swashbuckling adventure.
Release date: June 26, 2026 | Out of Season | Bandcamp | Instagram | Store
For the second time in my career at Everything Is Noise, I am opening a review with a social media post.
Stick with me for a second. Not only is this tweet accurate, I think it captures the eternal human desire for instrumental music that is somewhat easy listening. That’s not to say smooth jazz, or lo-fi, or any of the wordless subgenres that have come and gone are somehow lesser for their entry point. In fact, I’d argue that music like this – pretty much tailor-made for background enjoyment – is worth exploring for that reason alone.
Lo-fi might be the most apt comparison to smooth jazz, but I’d like to draw attention to a micro-genre that, while still very niche to those in the mainstream, has gotten plenty of coverage, and that is the beautiful world of dungeon synth. Dungeon synth is, simply put, electronic music that aims to evoke a medieval atmosphere. While we can get even more subdivided to the point of silliness (‘Dino synth’ comes to mind), you can probably get the idea.
Pittsburgh artist Hillsfar has been blazing through the more traditional dungeon synth scenes with his Moonsea concept album series, of which Tides of the Moonsea is the fourth entry. While the previous albums, beginning in 2020 with Jewel of the Moonsea, stick pretty close to the heart of the genre with ancient-sounding, almost monastic high-fantasy energy, Tides takes great pleasure in bringing a distinct tropical flavor to the table, a marked advancement in Hillsfar‘s musical development.
“Rough Waters” is a nice freeze frame of Tides as a whole work; jaunty, cinematic, still historical-feeling while leaving room for some surprises. Hillsfar uses substantially more synth percussion on this album and this track in particular, which I think is a good thing. Traditional dungeon synth always runs the risk of turning into sleepytime spa music with the absence of a beat, and “Rough Waters” does a great job of keeping things downright groovy as the kalimbas and steel drums intertwine with funkier, distorted synth runs.
Tides, in fact, strays far enough from Hillsfar’s earlier work that it feels a bit like a side-quest, but in a way that I think shows his interest in branching out as opposed to a record that’s out of left field. The nearly eight-minute “Treasure of the Tidewater Caverns” could pass for a 2013 synthwave track with its pulsating bassline and lush string pads. I was tempted to make some sort of vaporwave/outrun-era visualizer to this, but it’s like, a pirate ship instead of a cyberpunk car blasting through the gradient grid background. Hit me up if any of the four or five people reading this have the skills to realize my vision.
There are still plenty of more ambient songs, however, like “The Darkness Behind the Mountain,” with limited percussion and regally foreboding MIDI trumpets that feel more in line with your standard dungeon synth fare. I like that Hillsfar seems to be curious about mixing the old and new within this tiny corner of the music scene, and he’s managed to marry them nicely on a single album that feels cohesive by itself and within his own body of work.
Perhaps I am simply nostalgiapilled, but I enjoyed the hell out of Tides of the Moonsea. I thought a lot about The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker while listening, for somewhat obvious reasons. It seems Hillsfar retains a keen interest in the world of video game soundtracks as well, considering the packaging for physical copies of the record (which have taken a big step up in recent years, with help from the label Out of Season) is meant to mimic SEGA Genesis cartridges. It’s charming and fun, and a great pick for a summer evening on your porch wishing you were on someone’s boat. Ships ahoy.
Header photo by Hillarie Jason
