leerraum
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Ever prolific and consistently engaging, Asher paints yet one more evocative, peaceful-yet-prickly soundscape with “untitled composition (for b)”. Multilayered though with some degree of transparency and lightness, washes of static mix with a chilly tonal iteration that sounds like an old scrap salvaged from Fripp. The strata advance and recede, acquiring varying degrees of depth and translucence. It’s something of a stasis work, shifting within itself but occupying much the same space throughout, though by doing so it allows the listener to pick up elements that have been there all along but possibly escaped notice. A vague industrial undertow, for instance, seems clearer toward the end, a slightly bitter hum, almost like a vacuum sucking away the preceding 25 minutes. A good piece; those who have enjoyed his prior work will certainly like this one.
Another composition by Asher, “In Camera”, is available for free download at the fine homophoni site. It plays soft electric keyboard chimes against insistent static patterns and excellently chosen field recordings. These last have the effect of opening windows into a slightly (though not unpleasantly) stifling room; the aural contrast between the two worlds creates marvelous tension. Mourning doves appear and leave, the bell tones grow more muted under an increasingly thick carpet of haze and the work tumbles forward before evaporating.
Posted by Brian Olewnick on October 31, 2007 4:23 PMAsher is creating sound art with both an immediate appeal, and recondite elements that only repeated listens reveal. I continue to hear in the layered details a meticulous attention to ordinary sounds, strikingly arranged, subtly enmeshed. He clearly has big ears, strong ideas about composition, and a genuinely beguiling knack for disguising grit and grain within the luster. He deserves wider attention.
Posted by: Jesse at October 31, 2007 11:10 PMIt is really beautiful and a nice enough listen, but at what point does this stuff become newage? When is it just easy listening?
"These last have the effect of opening windows into a slightly (though not unpleasantly) stifling room; the aural contrast between the two worlds creates marvelous tension. Mourning doves appear and leave, the bell tones grow more muted under an increasingly thick carpet of haze and the work tumbles forward before evaporating."
Wow! Someone got out the poetic side of bed this morning ;)
Posted by: Richard Pinnell at November 1, 2007 11:48 AMIt's a good question, Damon, though I'd replace the (to me) pejorative term "new age" with "ambient" in the Eno-esque sense. Even there, we'd have to come to an understanding of where we think ambient is good ("On Land", for me, for example) and where it drifts too far into the cotton candy (erm..."Neroli"?). What I've heard of Asher's work contains enough grit to more than maintain my interest. I think it does run the danger of being listened to superficially (not that you were doing so) and being written off as merely pretty, but that's more a listener issue. Not that it's going to be "difficult listening" but I think we'd agree that there's a whole world of great music that's not difficult but worthwhile.
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at November 1, 2007 1:33 PMYeah it is complicated, like I said this album is beautiful. He really cranks it near the end, kind of like some late Nono where it is delcate for 15-20min and then it just screams.
Posted by: damon Smith at November 1, 2007 1:41 PMYeah, there is the standard problem of referents, e.g., I have no idea what constitutes new age to you, Damon.
I intended, through the descriptors "recondite" and "grit" and "grain", to suggest a distinction between Asher's work and the so called new age. Repeated listens yield more elements and,I think,more of his intentions. My experience of new age is that nothing is gained from repetition save a soporific (at best) effect, and grit and grain are carefully scoured in order to leave an uncomplicated sheen.
Asher sounds intensely dedicated to the assemblage and meticulous arrangement of ignorable sounds. This yields, happily, very musical fruit.
Posted by: Jesse at November 1, 2007 2:05 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................