Ben Glas — Music for Listeners (2)

Ben Glas is a Portland, Oregon based psychoacoustic composer with a catalogue of works on labels such as Room040.  This 2nd volume of Music for Listeners is the sequel to a cassette on Linear Obsessional Recordings

Curiously, the album begins with a full minute of silence, a track titled "A full minute alone with your thoughts".  When the sound does begin, it is a naked organ tone rising in volume.  This also lasts precisely one minute.  I was quite surprised to find the third track is ANOTHER minute of silence, and every odd numbered track thereafter, as well.  Amusingly, the next sound is a voice quickly saying "heads up" before a sudden eruption of colorful, bright arpeggiations from a synthesizer or processed organ.

I began to understand that this is a work of meta music and something of a study of attention itself, pointing out the way silence conditions a stronger reaction to the bold, gestural sound pieces, which are usually comprised of one single sound source modulating dramatically up or down in a smooth motion.  It seems likely that all the sounds on the album are the product of an analog synthesizer, with a very resonant sound that can mimic an organ.

Initially a call/response between one min tracks of silence and semi-tonal resonant drones in different beating rhythms, the album takes a soporific turn when some of the sound pieces begin to stretch as long as eight minutes, with the silent interludes remaining one minute each.  The first of these longer tracks is the soothing warm ambience of "A Polytemporal Clock", a repetitious murmuring that undulates in a consonant chord progression.

The detailed liner notes describe how certain pieces should be enjoyed on speakers, while others work on headphones or speakers, due to their specific resonant characteristics.  The meticulous cataloguing of these 'brain tickling' resonance interactions reminds me of classic experimental composers like Asmus Tietchens and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

He is not afraid to use very high frequencies, but never does so in a such a way where he is unconcerned for potential harshness.  The album seems perfectly calibrated for comfortable listening volume, and one of the silent tracks is even called "aging and hearing loss  / 21kHz".  It's as if he's done research as if to the exact threshold at which these sound can produce physical sensations without doing harm.  The three tracks titled "Cochlear Sing-Along" in particular seem to explore these 'brain tickling' effects.

This kind of very subtle music must be heard in a very quiet space, with a patient affect.  That said, settling into its focused and analytical mindframe is quite a soothing and meditative experience, if achieved.  Like Coil's Time Machines or Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting In A Room , Glas seeks to explore the physical effects of resonance in a methodical and scientific manner, drawing attention not only to the specific harmonic properties of sound, but to the apparatus of hearing itself.  It is an album will make you quite aware of your own ears. For more info