Scott August

Scott August, an acclaimed composer of many talents, specializes in blending acoustic and electronic sounds into singular textures. The California artist has built a long career creating music and sound design for advertisements and corporate films, while also issuing expansive albums like Distant Spirits (2001), Lost Canyons (2007), Hidden Journey (2012), Beyond Summer (2018), and Impulse Kontrol, Vol. 1 (2024) that fuse new age, ambient, and world music.

Born in Los Angeles, August first refined his technique in Fullerton on the cello, later turning to piano as a teenager. Progressive rock, German electronic music, and worldwide ethnic traditions all inform his work. That breadth guided the distinctive acoustic-electronic soundscapes he began capturing in the mid-'80s with piano, synthesizers, and an old 2" 8-track recorder. Airplay soon followed on KCRW and KXLU in Los Angeles and WNYC in New York. After Brian Eno noted the visual character of his pieces and urged him toward advertising, August auditioned for agencies and placed work in commercials and corporate films for NASA, The Discovery Channel, Lexus, Chevrolet, HBO, Nabisco, and Minolta.

In the mid-'90s August resumed solo recording, adding Native American flute to his palette and launching Distant Spirits on his Cedar Mesa Music label. He further developed his approach on Sacred Dreams (2003), New Fire (2005), Lost Canyons (2007), Radiant Sky (2009), Hidden Journey (2012), and Beyond Summer (2018), producing expansive, dramatic listening experiences suited to relaxation. Returning to his modular synthesis origins in 2024, he created the ambient Impulse Kontrol, Vol. 1 (2024).