The music of Jon Hassell is instantly recognizable. There is simply no mistaking this stuff for that of anyone but the Eno protege. That said, Hassell's style has progressed and expanded a bit in the many decades he's been making music. His latest, Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Volume Two), is out now and it's similarly evocative and subtly different from his last few releases.
"Moons of Titan" feels familiar, the treated horn of Hassell as beloved an instrument as any that produced noises in the post-punk era, while "Delicado" adds shuffling rhythms to buttress the main hook here. The cut is elegant and tropical, for lack of a more apt adjective, as is "Timeless" at the end of this. That album closer, with its skittering surface effects, is as light as air and momentous in its precision. There's a stately, precise figure underpinning this one but, like with many a Jon Hassell composition, the melody is so submerged that one has to pry it out carefully as the record plays.
Hassell's not entirely just interested in the sonic effects he conjures but, instead, intent on creating a rich melange of sounds that layer upon themselves, folding the melody in upon itself, until things seem to slow down. It's this approach that removes this stuff so far from the reach of any easy description, but which places it in the familiar realm of that Jon Hassell sound. It's a sound that you love if you've gotten lost in it once already. This one is sure to do the trick again.
Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Volume Two) is out now via Hassell's own Ndeya label.
More details on Jon Hassell via the official website, or the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Jon Hassell Bandcamp page]