Creating Atmosphere with ALPHA at Wrabel’s Up Above Album Release

January 23, 2026

I was invited to work with Wrabel on his album release party earlier this week, which was a precious opportunity to bring friends, collaborators, and fans together to hear him perform live in an intimate setting, and to give folks a sneak peek at a few (as yet) unreleased songs from the album. It was a stunning evening, but let’s back up.

Last spring/summer, Wrabel and I were in similar boats with our projects. He was wrapping up the initial phase of getting his album, Up Above, together and moving into mixing and polishing, while I was just starting to get my oil blends and candles out to folks for an initial round of exposure and feedback. I gave Wrabel a bunch of candles to play with, and it will always feel like the most special little overlap that Brain Wave was a part of his process in finishing Up Above.

For this party, we landed on an ALPHA atmosphere. I always describe ALPHA as a daydream. It smells like a forest walk, and it helps our bodies relax while keeping our minds awake, which felt perfect for the evening. I used a misting diffuser with lots of essential oil drops and sprinkled a few full-size ALPHA candles around as well to give some vibe. He hosted the party at Tea at Shiloh downtown, where the loveliest, sweetest ladies kept the delicious, cozy teas flowing all night.

I was offered the opportunity to open the evening with a little talk and meditation. In conceiving of what I wanted to talk about (or accomplish), I landed on this theme of arrival. And as someone obsessed with nervous systems, I thought the loveliest gesture I could offer was helping the crowd land in the room, in their bodies, and in community with one another, with systems primed and ready to really receive the complexity, the textures, the suspense and resolve of the music.

I talked about how attention is like an aperture on a camera. Our perception expands or contracts with our attention. The more stressed or unsafe our system feels, the less we’re able to absorb or catch in our frame. Whereas when we’re relaxed, feeling safe, and our aperture is open, we see more with clarity, an idea I think we can all benefit from keeping in mind.