ETHAN ROSE
Oaks
(Baskaru)
Ethan Rose is possibly best known for his soundtrack with filmmaker Gus Van Sant. Working widely on the score to Paranoid Park, it was Rose’s off-kilter sound pieces that gave the film something quite unerring. Now a few years on from that work, Rose has unearthed another golden recording with Oaks.
Created using a 1926 Wurlitzer Theatre Organ in an old skate rink in his hometown of Portland, this record is not what you might expect. Whilst the organ remains present in many of the pieces it is Rose’s abilities to transform the instrument that are most striking. A careful and considered sound sculptor, Ethan Rose takes a variety of recordings from the instrument and alters them to varying degrees. ‘Grand Marcher’ for example is a wonderfully ambient work – the kind of sounds that might have existed on some unrecorded Brian Eno record in the early 80s – swelling filtered sections glisten amid glassy pads and tones. Never waiting to break or interrupt the flow of his recordings, this album is for the most part a floating vessel – buoying up and down in an ocean of shimmering tonal goodness.
When Oaks does shift into more contemporary electronics territory – take ‘Scenes From When’ for instance – the production still carries a warmth and openness to it. Never content to let cliché intervene, you get the sense that Rose has fawned over these pieces to ensure they are each realised to within a point of perfection. For the most part he’s right on the money.
HHHH   Lawrence English