Topo Landscapes
Release dates:
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Vol. I-IV (Original, Orchestral, Bluegrass & Jazz) 08/15/2025
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Vol. V-VII (Ambient, Prog-Rock, Piano & Acoustic Pop) 09/15/2025
Topo Landscapes: A Journey Through Limitless Sound
I’ve always believed music holds nearly infinite possibilities — despite the fact that there are only so many notes the human ear can hear, a limited number of rhythms, tempos, tonalities, and genres. And that’s just the music — never mind the lyrics. Even with all those constraints, we never seem to reach the edge of what music can do. If anything limits us, it’s ourselves.
Like many people, I’ve sometimes grown defensive about the kinds of music I loved. I’ve scoffed at other “tribes” of sound, even despised certain genres or lyrical styles for a time. But deep down, I’ve always known that openness is the door to discovery — and some of the most meaningful experiences of my life have come through stepping through that door.
When I first picked up the guitar, it was the early ’70s and I was a kid living with my family on a college campus where my parents worked. Singer-songwriters like John Denver, Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell were the sound of the day. Those were the songs I learned first — their rhythms, melodies, and poetic lyrics shaping my earliest musical instincts.
At the same time, I was enchanted by something completely different. Whether it was The Ballad of Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies or a late-night rerun of Bonnie and Clyde, I heard something fast and fiery: banjo, mandolin, fiddle, flatpicked guitar — it felt impossibly alive. Eventually, I came to know it as bluegrass. Since then, artists like Alison Krauss and Union Station, Nickel Creek, and other progressive bluegrass groups have stayed in my ears and heart.
In college, I stumbled across a campus radio station late one night and heard something I couldn’t name. It was jazz — but not like anything I’d ever encountered. It was wildly improvisational, full of world instruments, and emotionally expansive. The band was Oregon, and I’ve listened to every album they ever made.
Back in middle school, when Star Wars hit the big screen, John Williams’ score pulled me toward classical music. I began buying cassettes of Bach and Mozart. Later, I discovered Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances, which made me want to move in ways contemporary music didn’t. Then came Stravinsky, the modernists, and the experimentalists who broke all the old rules.
Around that same time, a public radio show called Hearts of Space introduced me to a new universe of sound — early ambient music made with synthesizers, echoing with cosmic textures and celestial tones I’d never heard before.
I’ve always been drawn to the piano — perhaps because my wife plays, and I’ve spent many evenings listening to her pour the stress of the day into those keys. It’s a simple instrument, but when played with feeling, it becomes deeply emotive.
Another genre that’s stuck with me is acoustic pop — light, sunny, grounded. Think Jack Johnson and other artists who bring warmth without harshness, using natural instruments like guitar and ukulele. It’s music that feels like an open window on a summer morning — easy to agree on, easy to breathe in.
And then there was my high school obsession: rock. Especially progressive rock. Bands like Yes, Rush, Kansas, and Pink Floyd took me (and my fellow nerdy friends) to entirely new realms. Rush’s Cygnus X-1 paired perfectly with the science fiction I was reading — it felt like a sonic journey into space.
In 2001, after releasing my first full-length folk album, Ozzy’s Guitar, a friend encouraged me to do something with the instrumental pieces I’d been playing around with for years — those fragments that never quite found their place in a song. That suggestion became Topo: Acoustic Landscapes, a 10-track instrumental album that fused folk, acoustic pop, bluegrass, and ambient influences. Though wordless, it aimed to transport listeners — just as I’d been transported by so many genres before.
Those 10 original tracks have become cornerstones of my catalogue. Their melodies, rhythms, and riffs have held up across decades. And now, with new technologies and better tools for recording, mixing, and arranging, I decided to revisit them — to see what else they might become.
Over the next two months (August & September 2025), I’ll be releasing Topo Landscapes Volumes I-IV, and Topo Landscapes Volumes V-VIII, an 80-song project exploring the ways those 10 original compositions can be reimagined across seven distinct genres — Orchestral, Bluegrass, World Jazz, Ambient, Prog Rock, solo Piano, and Acoustic Pop.
Each volume reshapes familiar material into something unfamiliar, testing the boundaries of melody, rhythm, and genre. The result has blown my mind. As I hoped from the start, the possibilities really are endless. If a song works — if it’s honest, rooted, and melodic — it can be stretched, reshaped, and set loose to travel places it’s never been before.
I hope you’ll come with me.
http://www.scottsimpsonmusic.com