A glance at the cover of Nokturno, a new album by Martina Testen and Simon Serc, and you might be forgiven for assuming references to "the mysterious soundscapes of the night" meant a new-agey type recording that layers soft, ambient music over a backdrop of night peepers, nocturnal birds, maybe a distant wolf howling at the moon ... you know the sort of thing.

Well, you would be mistaken. Not so much about the peepers and birds, but there's no new-agey type music here to interfere with nature's own symphony. This is, as the description clearly explains, a 60-minute field recording made over the course of 10 years capturing "the natural sounds of the Slovenian Goriska region and the Italian Friuli Venezia Giulia."

Testen and Serc, a pair of Slovenian audiovisual artists who previously released Biodukt in 2020 and Ekodukt in 2022, "spent countless nights in the forest capturing frogs, nocturnal beetles, owls, stags, wolves, and other voices of the nocturnal world," their press materials say. "Divided into eight chapters, the album traces the natural arc from fading daylight to the first light of morning."

And they don't just want you to listen to the sounds, either. According to the release, "the album invites reflection on the inner lives of animals, revealing the intelligence, sensitivity, and subtle behaviors of nocturnal creatures. Intimate and immersive, Nokturno celebrates the mystery and fragility of night ecosystems while reminding listeners of the importance of protecting these habitats."

A noble goal. And I certainly am in favor of anything these days that causes more people to take notice of nature and take an interest in its health and wellbeing. Nokturno -- and, presumably, the duo's previous two recordings, which I have read about but have not heard -- gives the spotlight to often are ignored in passing or, more often than not, simply not heard because we live too far and too heavily insulated from the natural environment.

On its own, Nokturno is very relaxing. It could easily pass as a "sounds of nature" ambient noise machine that relaxes the listener into a restful night's sleep. But the quality of the recording is exceptional, far beyond what you'd expect to hear as the third option on your usual sleep aid (right after ocean waves and before a gentle rainfall). And, truth be told, I find myself listening too intently to each new sound, trying to figure out what I'm hearing. In fact, I am tempted sometimes to pull out an app or two to try and identify each creature I hear. Maybe someday I will do that.

There are a few surprises, too. Some of the animals you hear in the distance sound big. Tiny, too -- was that a mosquito I just heard, buzzing seemingly right by my ear? There's weather, including some dramatic thunder. And, inexplicably, chimes. Not sure how those got in there, perhaps the recordings weren't made as deep in the forest as I'd thought. There's a cuckoo. And ... a donkey? Oh, and there at dawn, a rooster.

Certainly what you hear before midnight is quite different from what you hear just before morning. The progression of sounds through the night is fascinating.

Nokturno is relaxing, yes, but it's also transporting. It presents a purity of nature that's hard to find these days, practically impossible in an urban or suburban environment. I dare say, listening often might even cleanse one's soul a bit.