Turned To Stone: Chapter 10 arrives April 10 on Ripple Music, bringing together SoftSun and Ten East for a split that barely feels like one.

Gary Arce sits at the center of it all, and if you know his work with Yawning Man, that sense of space will sound familiar right away. Alongside Pia Isaksen, who plays in both bands here, there is a natural flow between the two sides. It feels less like a handoff and more like the same session drifting in a new direction.

SoftSun open the record with three tracks that take their time settling in. Arce’s guitar stretches out in that unmistakable desert style, while Isaksen’s bass holds everything steady underneath. Her vocals come and go, never pushed too far forward, more like another layer in the background. Dan Joeright keeps the drums simple and restrained, which leaves plenty of room for everything to breathe. The songs do not build toward big moments. They just sit in their own space and let it slowly sink in.

The band has been on a steady run since forming in 2023, following ‘Daylight in the Dark’ and ‘Eternal Sunrise,’ and these tracks feel like part of that same stretch… just another side of the same mindset.

Ten East pick things up from there without breaking the mood. The project has always worked more like a loose collective than a band, going back to ‘Extraterrestrial Highway’ in 2005 with Arce, Mario Lalli, Brant Bjork and Bill Stinson. That open approach is still the core of it. This time around, the lineup includes Arce, Stinson, Isaksen and Isaiah Mitchell, and you can hear how naturally they flow.

The songs lean into improvisation, but they never drift too far into experimentation. It feels like the tape is rolling while everything comes together in real time. Mitchell’s added guitar gives the sound a bit more reach, pushing it outward without crowding anything. Small changes in rhythm and tone carry the tracks forward more than any clear structure. You can hear the room, the pauses, the moments where someone shifts direction a bit and the others follow.

It also marks Ten East’s first release since ‘Skyline Pressure’ in 2016, which makes its inclusion here feel even more fitting. What started as extra SoftSun material turned into something that brought this project back to life.

By the end, separating the two bands doesn’t really matter. The whole thing plays like a single stretch of music shaped by the same people, the same instincts, atmosphere… Nothing is overworked. Nothing tries to stand out too much.

It is the kind of record you put on and let run, then realize it has pulled you somewhere without making a big deal out of it.