Therapy can come in many forms, from an hour lying on an analyst’s couch to a night spent drinking with a sympathetic friend. For Patrick Fiore, setting up a microphone and pressing Record for his latest album, Past Life, was as good a way as any to work through some painful stuff. To listen to the Vancouver-raised artist’s work as ethereal-minded EDM producer Noble Oak is to conclude that, at some point, a meaningful relationship went impossibly sideways. When he’s reached on tour in Japan, Fiore is more than willing to reveal that lines like “Never was a winner but I tried, I tried” and “You run away/The sun, it went out” from the celestial “Begin to Say” were indeed rooted in a difficult time. The funny thing is that he didn’t realize that he was using his art to deal with the darkness.

“A lot of the songs stem from a really bad breakup, kind of unconsciously so,” Fiore says, fresh off a show in Tokyo’s Shibuya district that he excitedly describes as a career highlight. “A lot of the lyrics came from me hitting Record and then just seeing what comes out. If I like a line, I’ll keep it, and they’ll become lyrics. I try to make those lyrics come as organically as possible, and as it happens this past while, what’s stuck with me is a bit of regret for the person that I was and the way that I behaved in a relationship at the end of 2014. I’m one of those people where things can really get to me. And in that situation, things really did. It’s only very recently that I’ve been able to sort of move on.”

For all the sadness that hangs over parts of Past Life, the record is anything but a downer. From the dreamscope opener, “The Spirit”, to the chilled-out, spacy closer, “Moonlight”, the album is marked by layers of beach-shimmer synths, soft-glitch percussion, and Fiore’s impossibly delicate vocals. It’s no accident that “beautiful” might be the best description of the record. Right from the moment Fiore first entered the ambient end of the EDM pool, the classically trained pianist knew what he wanted to accomplish.

“There was definitely a period, for about three weeks after the breakup happened, that I was in such a state that I couldn’t do anything,” he says. “But if I go back to when I began the project, my intent from day one was literally to make the most beautiful songs that I possibly can. And to hope that the world can understand that and see it. Hopefully, I can unite people so that they, in some way, can recognize beauty in sound. That’s really all that I ever wanted in this project, so if someone thinks that the songs are beautiful, then I’ve done my job.”

Plenty of folks do indeed think that Fiore is doing something gorgeous; Past Life has been lavishly praised everywhere from England’s BBC Radio 1 to America’s Stereogum to Australia’s Triple J Radio. In Japan, meanwhile, the producer—who’s relocated from Vancouver to Toronto—has built a somewhat obsessive fan base, thanks to touring. Fiore says that the love affair with the country started when an email from a Japanese promoter arrived, the sender professing his fandom after discovering Noble Oak’s songs online.

“He said, ‘We love your music, and we’d love to release the EP that you just put out,’ ” he recounts. “At that point I’d just put out the Away EP, and he wanted to rerelease it in the Japan territory. He said, ‘We obviously can’t pay you upfront, but we’d love to put on a tour for you.’ So I was like, ‘Absolutely—that sounds incredible.’ ”

The rapturous reception he subsequently received is understandable. There’s something distinctly urban about his work as Noble Oak, with densely layered songs made for wandering wide-eyed in big neon-lit cities. Or, if one prefers, towering and majestic West Coast rainforests.

“Obviously, I grew up in and around Vancouver, and now I live in Toronto,” Fiore says. “So I guess, yeah, what I’m doing kind of does have a city sound, and they recognize that here in Japan as well. But even in the smaller towns, I’ve got some really nice compliments. In this provincial town that I just played in called Yamagata, this guy came up to me and was like, ‘Oh, man—the world needs your music!’ I was like, ‘Wow—that’s the nicest thing that anyone ever said.’ ”

A big part of the appeal, whether in bustling Tokyo or a sleepy small town in B.C., is that the songs have enough space for an almost meditative quality. As a listener, you can choose to build a story out of lines like “I felt so lost/And all I said was goodbye” from the regal “All I Said”, or you can simply step back and bliss out, using Noble Oak as a soundtrack to your own inner musings. And if you’ve got something to work out—either on the therapist’s couch or over that third double bourbon with that friend who is great at listening—all the better.

“I’ve discovered over time that my music is kind of a personal experience,” Fiore says, “so it might not be the kind of thing that you want to hear in a club. I mean, some of the songs, yeah, do work there. But a lot of Past Life does come from a very personal place. So it totally makes sense that people might take something of me from the music, but also bring their own experiences to it. At least, I hope they do.”

Noble Oak plays Fortune Sound Club on Friday (September 9).