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Electronic musician and filmmaker Sean Hellfritsch produces lush, inviting soundscapes as Cool Maritime, taking inspiration from Japanese environmental ambient composers like Hiroshi Yoshimura as well as the soundtracks to computer games such as MYST. Actively releasing material since 2012, his recordings range from the expansive drones of 2016's Some Sort of Wave Portal to the more accessible, high-definition melodies of 2022's Big Earth Energy.

Hellfritsch grew up in the outskirts of Santa Cruz before his family moved to a canyon near the redwood forests of California. His experiences living in natural habitats have greatly informed his musical and visual work throughout his career. Hellfritsch formed the Los Angeles-based film and animation studio Encyclopedia Pictura with fellow directors Daren Rabinovitch and Isaiah Saxon. Through the studio, Hellfritsch has directed music videos for Björk, Panda Bear, and Grizzly Bear, and he worked on an unreleased video game for Kanye West. He has also provided visuals for releases by his wife, Buchla enthusiast Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. His first album as Cool Maritime, Tea Time Travel, was self-issued in 2012; the hand-dubbed cassette edition included bonus synthesizer experiments not available on the digital release. Some Sort of Wave Portal, mainly consisting of extended real-time synth explorations, was released by Matthewdavid's Leaving Records in 2016. Sharing Waves appeared in 2018, including pieces commissioned for an outdoor plaza in Los Angeles. It was simultaneously released with a remix companion, Shared Waves. Big Lunch, a collaboration with poet Rob Moss Wilson, was issued by Smith's Touchtheplants in 2020. Cool Maritime's Big Earth Energy, recorded using gear from the late '80s and inspired by role-playing games from the mid-'90s, was released by Western Vinyl in 2022. ~ Paul Simpson