The world moves pretty fast these days.
If you're looking to hit pause for a second, NYC-via-Kentucky resident J.R. Bohannon can slow it down with the best of them. He returns to eclectic powerhouse label Beyond Beyond Is Beyond for his second Ancient Ocean album, Titan's Island, which lives up to the mystifying majesty that its title suggests. Its shimmering, synthetic drones ooze through tweaked string-laden loops and artsy guitar noodling in a mesmerizing blend of modern classical and late '70s ambient music, somewhere between Jóhann Jóhannsson and Brian Eno.
It really works. I was listening to this album on the bus writing this, when some pencil-neck twerp a few seats down started yelling at people to stop touching him. Normally, that kind of scene would create unbearable tension in me, but close your eyes and focus on the shimmering timbres in sweeping gestures that unfurl within each of the four lengthy compositions on this album, and Zen's your uncle. If you can't find your centre to this, you may just need the assistance of drugs.
(Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)If you're looking to hit pause for a second, NYC-via-Kentucky resident J.R. Bohannon can slow it down with the best of them. He returns to eclectic powerhouse label Beyond Beyond Is Beyond for his second Ancient Ocean album, Titan's Island, which lives up to the mystifying majesty that its title suggests. Its shimmering, synthetic drones ooze through tweaked string-laden loops and artsy guitar noodling in a mesmerizing blend of modern classical and late '70s ambient music, somewhere between Jóhann Jóhannsson and Brian Eno.
It really works. I was listening to this album on the bus writing this, when some pencil-neck twerp a few seats down started yelling at people to stop touching him. Normally, that kind of scene would create unbearable tension in me, but close your eyes and focus on the shimmering timbres in sweeping gestures that unfurl within each of the four lengthy compositions on this album, and Zen's your uncle. If you can't find your centre to this, you may just need the assistance of drugs.
