Sonescent, the new album from Matchess, came to Whitney Johnson’s mind while she was at the Dhamma Vhadanna Meditation Center just north of Joshua Tree, during a course of Vipassana meditation. This is a ten day period that requires, among other codes of discipline, the practice of Noble Silence: silence of body, speech, and mind.

In the past decade, the music of Matchess has spanned outer and inner space, seeking...