Journalism student Sequan Gatlin is releasing an album Sunday, April 23. The album spawned from a final project in a music class, growing to become an album to help other students de-stress. 

“The music is just meant to be calming, for relaxation and study purposes,” Gatlin said. “It’s very minimalistic. It’s supposed to be subtle sounds, very tranquil, peaceful sounds that you hear.”

The music brought Sequan some relief during a tough time for him.

“There were some that had a lot of meaning. There were a couple that I made while in the hospital during a very hard time in my life, Gatlin said. “It was something that kept me through, that kept me high in that moment, that kept my spirits high in that moment. 

“It was kinda cool to share that and take that idea from that piano in the hospital and bring it to be an actual song. So some of the songs have an important meaning to me.”

Gatlin thought that he could bring the same sense of peace to others.

“For me personally, listening to ambient music is something that’s peaceful and calming and I wanted to share that with other people to see if they got the same feeling and sense of peace that I got,” he said. 

Gatlin is releasing the album, titled “Eve’s New Year,” on Sunday, directly proceeding dead week, so that students can use his album as he intended.

“The music was initially just intended for people to study to,” Gatlin said. “Dead week and finals week are when people are the most stressed out. The album is ten songs and its only thirty minutes long, so you can sit down with it in the background for a quick study session, or use it as a thirty minute break.”

Even the look of the album reflects how he wants his music to feel.

“As far as the cover art… I wanted people to see that’s where mind was when I created this album,” Gatlin said. “I wanted [others] to get there to, to feel this sense of peace that I did when I created it.”

The tracks on the album are a mix of songs personal to Gatlin with songs were developed for fun.

“Some of the songs are very touching to me, although some of them I felt were very simplistic,” Gatlin said. “Other songs were just for joy, putting myself in a situation and think ‘what would that feel like,’ so while some of them had greater meaning, others were just for pleasure.”

The album is one step toward entering the music business for Gatlin. 

“I would definitely like to produce music for different video games or be a composer for videogames or television or just do the jingles that you hear in the background of commercials,” he said.

Right now, however, the album is just something for people to connect to.

“Music is very important. Music is a freedom of expression and a format for expression. It connects people,” Gatlin said. “Whether it’s you as the artist trying to get a point across or you as a listener understanding the artists’ point, I think there’s a great connection that can happen when you make music.

“Music is very powerful and that sound is very powerful in controlling your emotions or expressing your emotions.”

Gatlin is proud of his work and hopes that others will get as much out of it as he has.

“Just having an entire project together was really an accomplishment for me,” Gatlin said. “I think at first it was for myself, but I really want to share that accomplishment with others.”

The album will be available for streaming or purchase on Bandcamp.