- Relaxing minimal compositions ideal for deep listening.
- Minimalism based on long drones, as developed by La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros and other pioneering composers, has a curious way of creating and transmitting emotive, deeply personal moments. It allows for introspection and revelation, achieved through close listening to the smallest adjustments in pitch, timbre and harmony. The hurriedness of everyday life falls away. Through giving yourself up entirely to the music, transcendence can come from what, to an unengaged ear, might seem boring. In her book Deep Listening, Oliveros wrote on her experience singing and playing "long tones." "I noticed that I could change my emotional state by concentrating my attention… Prolonged practice brought about a heightened state of awareness that gave me a sense of well-being." These are not novel concepts. The use of sound to produce meditative states goes back as long as meditation has been incorporated into spiritual practice. But more recently, artists like Ellen Arkbro, Eleh and Lea Bertucci have all developed unique techniques that demonstrate the continued vitality of drone in composition. John Also Bennett's first solo album as JAB, Erg Herbe, fits neatly into this wave of musicians exploring minimalist composition.
Bennett, a member of the koschmiche- and techno-adjacent trio FORMA, is an eager collaborator. His 2018 album with Christina Vantzou, Thoughts Of A Dot As It Travels A Surface, was a sonic interpretation of large drawings by the artist Zin Taylor, and an exercise in quietude and sonic perceptions of distance. He has also been a key member of Jon Gibson's ensemble as the '70s minimalist has become more active in recent years. Gibson is a key predecessor to Bennett as a flautist who collaborated with many of the biggest names of the New York experimental scene of the time, including Young, Philip Glass, David Behrman and Arthur Russell.
Erg Herbe, like much of the music on Shelter Press, is defined by its subtleties and sense of space. It is at its best at its most stripped down, such as "A Little Breeze," a duet of oscillator and flute that mostly consists of just three tones cycling in and out of prominence while Bennett improvises. The effect is spellbinding, with Bennett's flute darting above and below the drones playfully. "Distant Patterns" expands that template, with more complex harmonic patterns drifting over the oscillator tones, slowly unfolding into gorgeous, overlapping chord clusters. Despite that harmonic complexity, the music is remarkably open, almost always spacious and inviting—qualities that define the best minimalist music.
The emphasis on improvisation here also echoes Indian classical music, where drone was a starting point for expansive melodic explorations. In that way it also evokes the raga-influenced new age found in the early works of Stephen Halpern and Georgia Kelly, and the flautist Iasos. Like the music of those new age pioneers, Erg Herbe seems to transmit a sense of calm from deep inside the artist. When the music drifts away from that center, it becomes less effective. "Jacob's House," with its more active, bouncing synthesizer and repetitive flute lines, is the album's lone moment of distracting fluff, partially because it seems so controlled and formulaic. Taken as a whole, however, Erg Herbe succeeds as a potent tool for deep listening and meditative contemplation.
Tracklist01. Planner's Beauty
02. A Little Breeze
03. Jacob's House
04. Menu Music For Video Game
05. Distant Patterns
06. Chanterai Por Mon Coraige
07. Erg Herbe