What does Jasmine Wood sound like?

Experimental ambience – often found at the tail end of a sound.

The review of Jasmine Wood – Piano Reverb

When does a piano not sound like a piano? I can think of many ideas over the years, especially with prepared pianos, but Jasmine Wood tries a different approach. The piano contains power and gravitas as each note rings out. Using a century-old instrument, Jasmine focused her recordings on the reverb of each note she played in a church – removing the note entirely. The result is something of a whispy dream and it is unusually affecting.

There are eight songs on the album, each presented as a Roman numeral. They take different approaches to this idea by focusing on long-sustained notes that balm or rage depending on the depth. The opening two tracks are warm, balmy hues of mid and upper octave notes. They gently circle with field recordings of birds seeping in and out too. I’m reminded of the ambient side of Philip Glass where glassy organ tones hum and drone for long periods, entrancing the listener. The holy nature of the setting is palpable and the whole arrangement is full of abundance.

The tone shifts towards a darker growl for ‘III’ and ‘IV’ as Jasmine Wood rumbles the lower octaves. I’m sure either sound processing or magnification occurs here as it sounds like the piano reverb is being fed through a guitar amp. It is grizzled, menacing and at times foreboding when church bells, tin whistle and distant crowd noise fill out the deep drones. As the antique piano is so old, it creaks and rattles and Jasmine leaves these in for colour. ‘V (It’s Haunted I Can Feel It)’ layers a single low note rumble like a wave over a distant hue of higher notes that evoke a choir in the walls. Sometimes those higher notes creep out like a wailing cymbal roll or a frequency shift and whilst the track isn’t unsettling, it feels like a slow-motion exchange between ghostly beings.

Whilst the piano reverb takes up over 90% of the album’s sound, ‘VI (Friends)’ is the sole track with another keyed instrument. This brooding piece is bassy and reflective as a Yamaha Reface acts as a sympathetic bass harp. It keeps time and pace as reverb numbs your mind and soul. If depressed and playful could co-exist – it’d be this track. The deep blue sea of the last few tracks makes ‘VII’ sound operatic and gothic. Jasmine Wood has spent the first 25 minutes of the album being comfortably numb. Here she is a whirlpool of dramatic flourishes and pirouettes up and down the piano. It’s as close to hearing actual notes as the album gets because Jasmine is ballistically attacking the piano for all she’s worth and the piano sings as a result. After all those dramatics, ‘VIII (Tremolo)’ rounds off the album is a distorted reverb that ripples, pulsates and trembles. It’s a single tone but across the four-minute runtime, it never sounds like just one thing. With this closing track, I think Jasmine found a new way to create dramatic guttural sci-fi soundtracks.

Conclusion

Experimental ambient albums are all about losing yourself in the details. Jasmine Wood’s ‘Piano Reverb’ is an album that shimmers and growls with the edge of sound and then stretches that edge out like a sonic pizza dough across time. At times it is beautifully aural. Other times it is foreboding and visceral. At all times, it’s a fantastic journey that lets the mind wander. I recommend listening to it with headphones on too as the church reverb echo gives added gravitas to every noise. I’d never have thought I’d be advocating listening to only the reverb of an instrument but Jasmine Wood has created something special. Dive in.

Recommended track: II

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