That Famous Sound

Ethan Rose - On Wheels Rotating.

The other night I had a simple dream in which I was driving a truck down some dark snowy roads up in Maine. It wasn’t about obstacles, or about escaping. It wasn’t about tension or fears. It was about the pure enjoyment of the act. It was about finding your way to no place in particular at a pace just north of neutral. Had I known that a few days later I would receive word of this new Ethan Rose album, I guarantee that it would’ve been my soundtrack.

Ok, let’s take a step back and listen. There’s more melody here, more structure. But still, a song like this isn’t about destination or anything. It’s about the space between the beginning and end (I just blew your mind right there, I know). But seriously, I’ve always liked Ethan’s compositions because they’re just a little bit more active than ambient, but they’re not relentless or droney either. His music takes up the perfect spaces in the room, just nudging itself in there and allowing itself to conform to the shapes around it.

Anyway, as you might’ve guessed, Ethan Rose has a new album coming out in January. Much of the music is based around a Wurlitzer Theater Organ that he’s been playing and repairing at the Oaks Park Roller Rink in Portland. The new album is appropriately called Oaks and it’ll be put out by our old friends at Holocene Music, who continue to do great things. Speaking of great things (that I was I could attend), Ethan will be trekking to Alaska for the Freeze Project. A bunch of designers will be making structures out of snow, and Ethan will be working with one of them to create new compositions based on field recordings of the snow. Personally, that sounds like a dream to me. Hopefully the project will be well documented.