Ethan Rose

Ethan Rose is another in a growing number of electronic artists forging links to an antique and disused musical apparatus. On his second solo release, the Pacific North westerner concentrates on the sound of a '20s Wurlitzer organ he discovered in the Oaks Park Roller Rink in Portland. The sounds of the organ are fed into a digital matrix, but rather than obscure or disassemble the original tone, like a parfumeur Rose plumbs into the hearts of notes and extracts their essences. Tracks like "On Wheels Rotating" and "The Floor Released" have the warmth of pleasant reflection — the blur and smear of sounds operating like the memory of events overlaying the events themselves. The music is open, optimistic and slowly undulates, as most good ambient music will, but contained within the waves is a richness of tone and atomized events that draw you below the surface. In its blend of futurism and nostalgia Oaks is an album unstuck in time.