Sequoia Thoughts grew from a tiny seed. Sequoia Thoughts is the feeling you get when your anxiousness and worry simply overtake you. When one thought grows into two, and those two into four; those four into eight and those eight quickly evolve into millions and millions. What seems like a simple task has become monumental; impossible. You feel like you are drowning. Those are Sequoia Thoughts.

Coming from the avant-garde, ultra-polarized mind(s) of Brian Wilbur, who has floated between mental health diagnoses for several years now, Sequoia Thoughts (and by extension), existence->init(), lies somewhere in between feminine beauty and total hopelessness.

The album reminds you of a child drowning in the ocean; the strange mixture of textures, both empty and full, methodical and beautiful all at once present a picture of an obvious sorrow, but also a strange sense of "letting go"; of being free through escaping this mortal coil. Per Diem Epiphany's unique combination blends well into the more completely ambient track, "Hibernate" which samples the Gia Coppola movie "Palo Alto". This track is filled with an overwhelming nostalgic sorrow and suggests the total acceptance of this towering negativity; whether it is the acceptance of death or just of surviving another day is up to you. It's hope is underscored with haunting, writhing mechanical sounds and crassness, repeating the theme of oneness in duality. Finally, "Theological Puberty" rounds out the album, a massive 13-minute walk through total desolation. If Per Diem sets the theme of duality in methodical clarity and Hibernate highlights its hopes, then Theological Puberty certainly draws a thick red circle around the absolute futility of it all in the end.

The album also showcases a promising brand new artist with relatively skillful production techniques for his very first time behind the wheel. Brian comes from a career of software engineering in the most unlikely of places for person like him to work. His obsession with both music and technology have finally culminated into Sequoia Thoughts, where he begins to express himself artistically through meticulously crafted parameters and algorithms. The album and even its cover represent his musical progress and it shows: chronologically, Per Diem Epiphany was produced first, followed by Theological Puberty and lastly, Hibernate. And certainly the improvement in quality shows through, with Hibernate quickly becoming the most downloaded and listened to track on all its platforms.

If Hibernate is the type of work Brian continues to show us, we are in for a promising ambient album come 2018.