There are two listening approaches I've personally found most beneficial to ambient drone music. One is to immerse myself in the environment around me, letting the sounds serve as a guiding force to my thoughts and emotions. The other is to engage in the listening process itself, taking in all the subtle nuances in melody and the combination of notes.
The main dilemma with 144 Pulsations of Light, Ethernet's debut record for Kranky, is that it doesn't serve both of these purposes with equal efficiency. Tim Gray, the sole force behind Ethernet, reaches his intended goal by what he claims is a “trance-inducing” experience using a hypnotic pulse created from a Roland TR-808 deep-kick sound. His blended synthesized textures are the result of his sound explorations in self-healing, and they are quite exceptional for said uses if the listener is less engaged in the music and more engaged in the meditation itself.
Unfortunately, 144 Pulsations of Light is far from exceptional under the solitariness of headphones. Instead of creating a listening world, it almost creates a distraction. It's the subtle aesthetic tricks that cause this, as if they were implemented later in the creation process without much regard to the textures that should've stood at the forefront of the mix. For example, during “Majestic” and “5+7=12,” instead of focusing on the atmospheric qualities and letting us experience a variety of aural landscapes, there is a small percussive sound hidden in the mix that diverts the listener's attention away from the sonic colors. This is a problem when trying to build an environment open to interpretation: instead of letting the piece breathe, it embarks on one linear path and doesn't branch off.
However, there are moments of both sheer beauty and brilliant fluidity that even the forefathers of ambient music would gladly accolade. “Temple” is the last and longest track on 144 Pulsations of Light, and it is by far the album's crowning moment. Instead of concentrating on a consolidated five- to seven-minute piece, Gray instead spends his time stacking melodic ambience, moving sinuously through soundwaves; the pulsating eventually becomes a part of the piece itself, not just a misplaced disturbance.
It's a welcomed reward that 144 Pulsations of Light finally reaches its most effective emotional state, but it's unfortunate it took until the end of the album to do so. Indeed, while the vast majority of like-minded artists on Kranky have a knack for putting the listener in a deep trance of listening bliss, here Gray is unable to connect with listeners on a higher emotional plane. His talent is obviously in place, but 144 Pulsations of Light still feels less like a full-blown listening experience and more like an experimentation of technical prowess.
1. Majestic
2. 5 + 7 = 12
3. Summer Insects
4. Vaporous
5. Seaside
6. Kansai
7. Temple