Bringing people into harmony with cosmic vibrations is at the heart of many classical Hindustani music pieces. Through the purity of sound, both performers and listeners are meant to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and the nature of existence.
Since the 1960s, this concept has also fascinated and inspired artists in the West. When Eleh operates the knobs and patch cables of his analog modular synthesizers, the atmosphere becomes minimalistic and meditative.
The musician and graphic designer from Massachusetts has been honing his skills with a variety of these instruments since 1999. The textures he generates with them convey a feeling of precision, as if they were carved or sculpted, resulting in pieces that have cinematic or painterly qualities.
Eleh brought together his explorations of the relationship between sound and space in the 2019 album Living Space. Compositions such as Collect Yourself/Well-arranged, pay homage to the beauty of slow changes, as they occur in all sorts of growth cycles — and they are characterised by a spiritual component that seems to be rooted in the cosmos itself.
Collect Yourself / Well-arranged is part of Wild Thyme Music (4): A Sonic Universe. Read more about the two other artists featured in this episode here: Italian Dhrupad singer Amelia Cuni, who has dedicated her life to the oldest known style of classical Hindustani music, and Charlemagne Palestine, known for his long ritualistic pieces without religious references.
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