Where Have All The Summers Gone: A Brief Review Of The New Album From Ben Chasny (Six Organs Of Admittance)

Sometimes the simplest things offer the richest rewards. The Intimate Landscape is one such set of pleasures. A record of instrumentals from Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance), the music on the Drag City release was recorded for the KPM Music library. And if your goal is to get lost in something, or soundtrack a journey, I can think of no finer recent album to do it to than this one.

Some of this, like "Last Night to Use the Telescope", is spry and almost playful, while other parts, like "Waterfall Path" is more serene and subdued. Everything here is just Ben Chasny playing an acoustic guitar, though the wistful "Six Diamonds" mixes in hints of keyboards, and all the instrumentals retain an uncomplicated grace because of that. Comparisons to Bert Jansch, for example, should abound, though Chasny's style is farther removed from any overt forms of traditionalism. Where's here thoughout The Intimate Landscape is full of a deliberateness that gives even a simple number like "Where Have All The Summers Gone" a weight that it likely wouldn't have in other hands. Elegiac and heartfelt, everything here is just as good.

The Intimate Landscape is out on Drag City on Friday.

[Photo: Ben Chasny]