Jeremy Bible and Jason Henry – Vryashn (Infraction)

Pronounced ‘Variation’, Jeremy Bible and Jason Henry’s 2008 Ambient laptop dissection of piano, water pipes, wine glasses, rain on a window and a garage lamp, is a two-part exploration of these disparate elements. Vryashn has recently been rereleased on vinyl by Infraction, after a limited CDR release by Gears of Sand Recordings in the year it was produced. Having previously recorded together for the Gruenrekorder label, as well as Bible’s own Experimedia imprint, the duos absorbing production techniques and lightness of touch promote Vryashn into the upper echelons of environmentally influenced ambient sound art.

I’m a big fan of mellow sounds to promote and enhance the sideways drift into sleep. Vryashn, in digital or cd-r format, is the perfect companion for nocturnal listening no sudden guitar solos, or pummelling drums to awake the dreamer, just a entopic drift through aquatic drones, with a lovely use of shade and dynamics throughout. I’m unsure of the wisdom of putting on the vinyl version just before bed. Unless you are a light sleeper, you might waken in a manner similar to that classic scene from The Blues Brothers with the needle bumping across the run-out groove. The slighted love interest (played by Carrie Fisher), blows the sleeping Jake and Elwood sky high with one flick of the world’s largest remote control, only for them to emerge bleary eyed for a pile of smoking masonry, mumbling ‘it’s 9 o’clock, we’ve gotta get to work’. No thought of the record on the turntable though.

Here at Cyclic, it’s all about the record on the turntable, and in a curious, but inspired move, somewhere between finesse and pure laziness, I am going to share my thoughts of Vryashn with you in their formative format. Hopefully you can read my scrawl. I thought that I would remove a layer of my own personal editorial process from proceedings for this review. If you have enjoyed the works of Main, Phil Niblock, Alan Lamb or The Necks Aether album, you’re sure to enjoy the nocturnal, aquatic sonorities contained on Vryashn. Bible and Henry’s tones inhabit similar territory, and trace an ambient trajectory that captivates – allowing a truly immersive, somnolent listening experience.