the gateless gate

Ambient, Kosmische Musik, Experimental (Canada)

The Gateless Gate is an ambient/experimental/psychedelic music project from Ontario, Canada. Influences include Krautrock, progressive rock, world music, avant-garde and dark ambient. Each release focuses on a different combination of influences and experimentation.

The Gateless Gate began as the ambient music project of Allister Thompson, a singer songwriter from Canada, who started it to explore his interests in ambient, psychedelic, post-rock, progressive and experimental music.
Each release focuses on different aspects of these kinds of music.
Musical influences on The Gateless Gate include: the masters of ambient music such as Brian Eno, Harold Budd, Thom Brennan, Steve Roach and Robert Rich; "world" music from Central Asia and East Asia; early "Krautrock" and "kosmische" artists such as Popol Vuh, Tangerine Dream and Ashra; psych-folk; and the acoustic world/ambient music of Stephan Micus.
The project's title is that of the classic book of Zen koans, Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate), used to this day in Soto and Rinzai Zen instruction.
In 2013 The Gateless Gate became a duo with the addition of pianist/singer Teri-Lynn Janveau, who has composed and played on tracks on the 2014 album Near North and subsequent releases.