July 23, 2026

Lusine shares ‘Bird’s Eye’ single from ‘Melting Days’

Lusine (Jeff McIlwain) has released “Bird’s Eye”, the second single from his tenth studio album “Melting Days”, out August 21 on Ghostly International.

Lusine "Melting Days" album artwork
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Lusine, the Seattle-based project of producer Jeff McIlwain, has released a new single called “Bird’s Eye” via Ghostly International. The track is the second single from his forthcoming album “Melting Days”, following lead single “Pendulum”, and mixes rhythm-driven ambient textures with warm, expansive synthesizer pads. “Melting Days” arrives digitally on August 21, 2026, with a vinyl edition following on September 18, 2026.

“Bird’s Eye” moves at a deliberate pace, tracing a progression of pinwheeling bells across a melodic, rhythmic core. Where “Melting Days” as a whole explores memory, grief, transition and renewal, “Bird’s Eye” leans into the instinctual, drifting movement that has long marked Lusine’s approach to ambient composition.

McIlwain wrote “Melting Days” during what he has described as a difficult and solitary period, and he assembled it more like a film than a set of individual songs, prioritising emotional flow over conventional song structure. Asked about that process, he explained: “I think this was a bit freeing for me, not needing to compromise on ideas.”

Rather than a stylistic departure, “Melting Days” is being pitched as a return to the richly textured electronic terrain that first defined Lusine’s sound, recalling the spirit of his 2007 ambient album “Language Barrier”. “Bird’s Eye” is out everywhere now, with “Melting Days” following on Ghostly International.

Lusine is also set to play Hidden Hall in Seattle, WA, on September 12, 2026.

About Lusine

Lusine is the recording name of Jeff McIlwain, an electronic musician and composer originally from Texas who has been based in Seattle for many years. McIlwain began releasing music in the late 1990s, initially as L’usine and later under the more minimal, ambient-leaning alias Lusine ICL for labels including Hymen. Under the Lusine name, he signed to Ghostly International in the mid-2000s, releasing “Serial Hodgepodge” (2004) and “Podgelism” (2007) before issuing “Language Barrier” (2007), an ambient album on Hymen that has since become one of the most cited records in his catalog and was singled out by fellow Ghostly artist Loraine James as a personal favorite.

McIlwain went on to release a string of albums for Ghostly International, including “A Certain Distance” (2009), “The Waiting Room” (2013), “Sensorimotor” (2017) and “Long Light” (2023), alongside numerous EPs and remix projects. Beyond his own records, he has scored or co-scored several films with composer David Wingo, including “Snow Angels”, “The Sitter” and “Joe”. “Melting Days”, described in press materials as his tenth studio album, follows 2023’s “Long Light” and finds McIlwain returning to the immersive, textural ambient sound of his earlier work, with “Bird’s Eye” offering the latest window into that return.

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