Six months after her last single on the label, Sky Civilian returns to Atomnation with the sublime six-track offering, If I Could Swim I'd Bring You the Ocean. It's a vocal-infused mix of technicolour synthesis, field recordings and very real emotions captured during the artist's best and worst days.

Sante Fe, New Mexico's Maggie Thornton aka Sky Civilian makes meaningful music that is always deeply personal. She is an accomplished artist who pairs her background in classical French horn and piano with her love of dance music. This new EP brings a fusion of dusty sounds, human feelings and orchestral pop manoeuvres that reach new harmonic highs and touch on social isolation, the music of Bach and losing friends to suicide.

The ambient opener 'Into the Blue' was written as a multipart French horn chorale with all parts performed by Sky. Waves of distortion and dissonance create the feeling of immersion underwater which is heightened by the large, gasping breaths she takes between notes. 'Some Kind of Love' is detailed with birds singing to evoke both warm and sad summer days, with background vocals that sound like piercing woodwinds. It strikes a lyrical contrast between the explicit and the implicit. It's about fantasy, love, death, and expression with dreamy synth lines and heavily treated vocals washing over you in blissful but thought-provoking ways. 'Running in Circles' is an interlude that takes the form of a snippet of a longer harmonic progression that Sky may release in full at a later date. It is inspired loosely by the subject of her undergraduate thesis, Bach’s First Prelude in C Major, and is a beautiful meander that eventually resolves in sublime fashion.

'Beautiful People' taps into the time Sky spent locked at home and isolated. The track speaks to the lingering mental health effects of the pandemic. It's about breaking out and letting go of the illusion of safety. It features pop and percussive vocals, warm chords and hints of acid over a captivating and uplifting groove. 'The Year of the Saxophone' blends jazz piano and layered woodwinds with field recordings of crunchy grass, tropical plants and a sliding glass door to paradise. It's a happy song and the sound of Sky learning to love and embrace something she didn’t particularly like, in this case, the saxophone. She finds her own magic in the instrument and conveys the joy and innocence of frolicking in flowers on a bright spring day. Closer 'If I Could Swim (I’d Bring You the Ocean)' is about losing three dear friends and collaborators unexpectedly in a matter of months. It's gorgeously pained, with a sense of loss front and centre. Feelings of regret and sadness wash over you as the pitched-down and lo-fi classical piano moves slowly, like life itself at times of trauma.

If I Could Swim I'd Bring You The Ocean is an artful and personal EP of delightfully crafted and absorbing confessionals.