Reviews

Irish Times

The beauty is in the detail. Carlow-born Jimmy Behan has been producing pristine, emotional, intricate electro-acoustic music for a couple of years. Since his 2004 debut, Days Are What We Live In , he has taken a less-is-more approach to his sound palate. This process of refinement and streamlining, as well as the obvious influence of more minimal composers, has led Behan to The Echo Garden , a beautifully mannered series of barely-there shapes, shifts and shadows. It’s quite clear from the way Behan manages and develops these micro-moods and flickering bursts of ambient soundscapes on tracks such as Clock for No Time that he can do quite a lot with very little. Best of all, he has retained the warm, emotional heart and soul that stirred in the midst of his earlier work.

Road Records

Album Of The Week. The return of this irish based electronic artists and the long overdue follow up to his debut from 2004. if we had a chart of top irish albums by ex members of staff here in road records then mr behan would be number one this week. jimmy behan has written, produced and recorded absolutely everything on this album and its a truly meticulous piece of electronic composition. its hard to get to get beyond comparisons to the likes of fennesz and biosphere so lets just say that fans of either of those artists will absolutely adore this album. its full of glitchy but warm sounding electronic soundscapes with lots of lovely watery like effects and delicate organ sounds. its very much an album that really comes to life on headphones where you can truly get a feeling for the intricate details and mass of layered sounds deep in the mix. a real treat and a must for fans of the sounds of labels like touch. June 2009. 

The Milk Factory

Irish sound artist Jimmy Behan first appeared in 2001 with an EP released on Kin Recordings and a split single with Connectfour Orchestra on Road Relish, but it is with his debut album, Days Are What We Live In, released three years later, that he first got the chance to fully showcase his sound, bringing together acoustic instruments, found sounds and electronic treatments to create evocative sonic vignettes. Five years and a couple of EPs later, Behan returns, this time on the excellent Audiobulb, with The Echo Garden, his second full-length.

While Days Are What We Live In had quite a bucolic feel, Behan was working with folk song structures which he adorned with gentle beats and discreet electronics, finding himself somewhere roughly in the vicinity of Four Tet or early Manitoba/Caribou. The Echo Garden is a much more free-flowing and delicate affair, as he strips his compositions of any rigid element and focus on the dream-like aesthetic of his sound formations. The result is a wonderfully airy and fresh collection which, echoing the picture on the cover, catches light through beautifully crafted layers of sonic particles. There is, here, very little remaining of the fully formed melodies that formed the backbone of Days Are What We Live In. Instead, it is through slight changes in tone or grain that Behan builds his narrative and affects the mood of a piece, occasionally adding a discreet piano or guitar motif as to trace, for a moment, a stronger line over a dusting of shimmering sounds. This is the case on the gossamer Pools for instance which opens with a hazy drone but takes a more defined shape as a warm piano pierces through the clouds, or later on the desolate Leaving Here, where a muffled loop progressively goes out of sync.

There is an impression of decay throughout this record, at times captured in the track titles (Rust, Leaving Here, Clock For No Time, Derelict, Dusk) and persistently embodied in the sound elements used and the treatments applied. Behan doesn’t work with crystalline soundscapes and polished surfaces. Instead, each sound is aged, distressed, rendered grainy and textured, and placed within larger constellations which in turn flicker like old films or scintillate like pieces of glass in the sun. Pieces like Rust, Clock For No Time or Across The Rooftops have a warm glow about them which radiates far beyond their respective span and appear to spill over their surrounding environments, while at the same time appearing blemished and patined.

In the five years between his first and second album, Jimmy Behan has totally rethought his approach and moved away from recognisable structures to develop his own language, and, while his sound sources haven’t changed massively, it is what he does with them and how he blends them together that gives The Echo Garden its intense poetic palette.

Tokafi

There may be some classic cinematic connections to the work of Jimmy Behan. In the epic masterwork of schmaltz & tears, „Sissi“, the peoples of Hungary are crowning their new king Franz Joseph I on top of a small artificial mountain errected by piling up samples of earth from their respective provinces. In a scene of similar emotional impact from Marco Bechis' recent drama „La terra degli uomini rossi“ („Birdwatchers“), meanwhile, Brazilian Indians demonstrate their deep relationship with the soil by grabbing a handful and eating it – to the bewilderment of a „21st century“ planter. The message of these rituals is clear: Whether we accept it or not, we are all inherently rooted in the place we were born, even though the debranching tendency of these times of sending us from one anonymous place to the next is wiping out the comforting reassurance of these ties. For Behan, too, there is a place with great emotional resonance, buried in the chinks of his memory: A narrow and winding track along the river which, in his childhood imagination, would lead him all the way to the end of the world. „The Echo Garden“, for Behan, marks the musical return to this path in an effort of reconciling the artistic possibilities and inspirations of the big city with the urgent need of belonging somewhere.

The personal relevance of this theme may explain why the full-length follow-up to Behan's widely applauded debut „Days are what we live in“, at one time tentatively announced for 2006, is now published with a three year delay. In fact, it may be a completely different record altogether: Defining a corresponding palette of ideas and timbres demanded time and attention, as the focus shifted from working on arrangements and thematic development to exploring the inner life of sounds. Delineating which tools and techniques NOT to use and how to avoid a regular instrumentation of Guitars, Bass and Drums took on seminal importance. Samples, with their inbuilt associations and metaphorical allusions, were shed. Instead, „The Echo Garden“ aims at creating a self-referential microcosm, based upon harmony, intimacy and fluent lines of demarcation between music, colour, spatial sound effects and a quiet world of organic noises.

Even though there is both a clear narrative development to the album as a whole (its track listing opens with „Awake“ and closes with „Dusk“) as well as a lot of inward movement to each piece, its gentle gestures and the absence of any kind of target vector create a sensation of peaceful tranquility and complete calm. One of the compositions is called „Clock for no time“, and its title effectively describes the agreeable separation of the inner and outer experience of time so characteristic of those days spent in the intense now of youthful exploration. It is almost as though, as a spectator, one were weightlessly reclining on the ground along the water, gazing on the playful dance of dragonflies and birds in the air. On „Pools“, a Piano paints dabbers of cloudy white into the sky's shimmering blueness, its at first solitary tones coalescing into an elegantly shaped pattern for a striking second, before gradually disintegrating again. Quasi-canon „Rust“, by contrast, feeds from the graceful tension of two almost identical melodic lines flowing increasingly out of sync with each other.  

Even though Behan is guiding his acoustic needle with the firm hands of a weaver working on a tapestry of gossamer silk and despite prior claims towards wanting to „get rid of all the music“, the record has nonetheless turned out a collection of tracks with a mind of their own. Each of them presents a new idea, in turn relying on a looped cycle of droning bass notes, the slow decay of a warm drone into silence or the juxtaposition of a continuous melody with a backdrop of far-away field recordings. „Derelict“ even disrupts the harmonious surface with discreet dissonances, which are, however, softened by embedding them into gripping thematic movement. As if incorporating the essence of pastoral beauty, the „Echo Garden“ opens up to all senses, revealing its dazzling complex of sweet sounds, refined tastes, impressionist images and sensual perfumes in small doses of  complementary quality. If his intention was truly to „just leave the good stuff“, the album has succeeded admirably.

From my balcony, I can see into the garden of an elderly couple. Each day, they will tend to their plants, water the flowers and crawl on their knees to tear out the weeds between the stones that form a path leading from the garage to the patio on the other end of the green. After the work is done, they will sit down on the patio's bench, enjoy the pleasures of relaxation after a day of labouring in the summer sun and look at the outcome of their sweat. „The Echo Garden“ seems to try and capture this moment of bliss, forged by sensations of purpose and devotion. Like them, Jimmy Behan has quietly cultivated the garden of his melancholia for the past years and distilled its fruit into an album which grows on listeners quietly yet insistently. The music is the movie here: Listening with your inner eyes will bring out the full cinematic qualities of this tender trip.

Sound Proector

Recently I got the next CD of the so-called laptop electroacoustics, it seems that there is already a whole generation of such musicians. I imagine thin, motionless figures of young people as an integral part of it, they stiffen before the laptop display, nearby lies a pair of sound devices (processors, mixers or something else). Abstract constructions of granulated sound layers come from the acoustic system and cover the surrounding space. Be it amorphous ambient or electronic pulsations and grinding sound, in any case all is processed by digital devices and in the result the listener is proposed to examine not harmony and melody, but the complicated structure of deformed sound filled with elegance and beauty of design.

The Echo Garden is a good example of such music, the best variants of which can be of no doubt heard on releases of 12k or Room40. Nature, the sun coming through tree branches, grass bushes where one wants to fall and lie without moving... The whole sound picture is carefully and intelligently sewed together by the threads of rough, glitch electronics. Maybe for some people the album seems to be just the next replication of that had been done by 12k and other labels. Of course, it can be close to the truth, Jimmy Behan won't surprise with anything new in composition the references to creativity of Taylor Deupree and Seaworthy can be heard, a little bit of con_cetta and Off The Sky, in some places Machinefabriek and Pan American... The list can be proceeded for along time, though it doesn't have any sense as The Echo Garden is a pleasant for listening, quite self-sufficient work.

Igloo Magazine

Irish composer Jimmy Behan creates his music by processing electro-acoustic sounds and field-recordings. Therefore it was no surprise to hear a collection of oozing tonal meditations on this disc. The Echo Garden is chock full of swirly pianos, droning detuned synths, bells, clicks, scraps and bit-degradation -- all lending to a hearty slurry of ambient relaxation.

Stand out pieces are "Rust" which features a lazily pulsing wind chime against a deep filtered sting pad with some sizzles and pops to season, "Across The Rooftops" which plays with the notion of rhythm - threatening a 3/4 waltz with every measure, and the epic-length "Dusk" which crawls through Behan's disc-spanning repertoire in its nearly 9 minute length.

It should be noted that Jimmy Behan currently holds an M. Phil in Music and Media Technologies from Trinity College in Dublin. This serves to solidify that the smart ones always make the "weird" music. That's definitely not a bad thing at all. The world needs more soothing, and folks like Behan are well equipped to do so.

Vital Weekly

There is the original, the copy and then there is the copy which becomes frightenly close to the original. If you wouldn't know better then you may easily think that 'The Echo Garden' is another album by Taylor Deupree. Acoustic sounds, electronic sounds, field recordings, peaceful music, tranquil. Microambient with the big M. Things are looped, no doubt thanks to Ableton Live, and played around in a nice gentle way. Music to relax by, to zip tea by, drink red wine by, or perhaps even to sleep by. I thought it was a pretty good record, but I kept thinking 'Taylor Deupree did this'. It's a little bit more crowded here than on the average Deupree record, and that's why he could have chosen another name. But its not. Jimmy Behan is simply someone else. Nice too..... 

Textura

Behan presents ten micro-detailed sound paintings on The Echo Garden. Eschewing sampling and excluding from his sound palette guitars, drums, vocals, and synth pads, the Irish sound sculptor uses piano, sine tones, found sounds, and field recordings to generate intimate evocations of pastoral tranquility. Fragments of early morning light shine through the trees in Behan's sonic environment, warming the isolated pond that's at the setting's center. Tiny speckles of processed sounds glimmer throughout the peaceful settings, sometimes accompanied by a more “natural” sound (such as an electric piano in “Leaving Here”) or a field recording (outdoor sounds in “Across the Rooftops”). While the bell tones in “Rust” invite a gamelan characterization and a central melancholy melody lends “Clock for No Time” a song-like structure, the album's material generally resists genre or stylistic labeling but rather inhabits an abstract space midway between electronic and acoustic sounds, 

 and sound design and compositional form. There's a focus on the detail of a given sound as well as on how the individual elements cohere into a larger whole. Behan's clearly more focused on treating the material as explorations of texture and sound that invite associations without dictating them; interestingly, though, the programmatic dimension established via track titling—a trajectory that finds the hypothetical hiker visiting the site in early morning, communing with it, and eventually departing from it as evening approaches—indicates that the composer isn't interested in wholly severing the ties to referentiality. 

The Silent Ballet

If I had reviewed The Echo Garden by Jimmy Behan eight to ten years ago, I'd have probably applauded it as a great record - a welcome entry into the ever-growing, newfound world of micro ambient music.  However, as we near the end of this decade and consider the crushing state of claustrophobia currently plaguing this over-populated genre, it's becoming clear that a bold new approach is in desperate need.  And while admitting that Behan's work on this record is quite beautiful and well constructed, it is hard to avoid catching an unwanted dose of the 'heard this before' syndrome. The Echo Garden will likely fall in or out of favor depending on which side of the fence the listener is on:  they will either be comfortable with a beautiful, yet derivative piece of work, or they will be tired of the same old, same old, preferring instead to wait for a release more capable of injecting lifeblood into this extremely over-crowded, over-imitated genre.

All of this is not to say that The Echo Garden is a bad release. It isn't. It's meticulously crafted, well produced and loaded with textured micro sonic activity containing all the elements so endemic to micro sound: warm tones, high-pitched sound fragments, field recordings, tiny fragile melodies and lots of space for all of this to float around in. Ironically, this is also what makes this release unremarkable - in short: it is what we've come to expect from artists exploring this genre. One doesn't get the sense that the artist took any chances here, or pushed the work to new limits, which is what this genre is crucially in need of. There is also one other troubling fact about this release: it sounds a lot like a Taylor Deupree record, at least stylistically. While no one should fault Mr. Behan for finding great source of inspiration from this pioneer, we must also remember that this category of music does not need another Taylor Deupree, but rather an artist who will source this level of inspiration into something different, if not altogether entirely new.

With this considerable criticism aside, there is ample room to find many things to like about this release and it's why rating this release too low is a bit difficult. Put simply, the music is enjoyable. It is almost impossible to dislike and there is nothing abrasive, nor unsettling about it - a well-suited musical companion to any environment conducive to quietude, contemplation or meditation. Less discriminating fans of this genre will find pleasure in tracks like "Awake" or the slow, gentle lullaby of "Pools". The finest, most innovative track on the record (certainly an area in which Jimmy Behan should place more focus) is the ninth track, "Derelict". Here, he creates a dense, brooding atmosphere with what sounds like a detuned piano, moving in and out of melody with great aplomb. More akin to the sonic explorations of the late John Cage, or Morton Feldman, it's the most exploratory track on this record. The final track, "Dusk", is an effective way to draw the curtain, but it is also the most obvious when it comes to a strong Deupree-based influence. Many readers will view  the Deupree comparison as an unfair jab and to be sure, there's nothing wrong with channeling one's  influences - but there is a line which separates influence from replication. This is a line I think Jimmy Behan should work harder to blur.

In summation, The Echo Garden is a noteworthy release when regarding the aesthetics of the micro sound genre, but not that of originality. Though it isn't time to write off the talent of Jimmy Behan or any of his contemporaries, it is time to remind those working within the canopy of this micro sound/ambient realm to push further, dig deeper, re-think and come up with something markedly different from what we've been delivered for nearly ten years now.

Blow Up

Più evidente invece il lavorio di processing in "The Echo Garden", secondo album in carriera per l'irlandese Jimmy Behan (studi di composizione con Roger Doyle e parallela attività  nel duo Glissen con Kate McKeon). Polveri sottili effondono dalle dieci composizioni, sbrindellate tessiture di microcellule melodiche ridotte a poco più di granuli spazzati via dal vento, brillii immateriali, condense che evaporano nel volgere di un battito di ciglia, con la stessa pacata riflessività di un Fennesz o un Deupree. (7/8)

State

Jimmy Behan will never play Top Of The Pops. In fact Behan creates music that is left of what the mainstream would already consider very left indeed that it defies a neat little category that makes reviewing records much easier. The music on The Echo Garden, his second long player, is minimal electronic music that the man on the street may normally encounter as part of an art installation or perhaps a Bill Viola video. Ironically much of the building blocks of the sounds he creates seem scavenged from the street - such as stones rolling on a pavement, a buzzing fly or change jingling in a pocket. Tiny pieces of found sounds float about in the texture of the music like motes in a shaft of sunlight and they are uplifting and optimistic in their way.

Trying to describe the music is much like trying to describe art as it can’t but relate to personal feelings, unchained as it is from traditional melodies and beats. In this way is a step away from the warm and enjoyable first album Days Are What We Live In. You won’t find any hooks here, or whistlable melodies for that matter. Nor is there any guest singers. A change in tack is welcome for any musician in the name of progress – but Behan’s listeners must change their approach to this album too. It’s best appreciated listened to start to finish - not picking tracks, in as much ambient silence as you can find (though the odd noise from the street or chirp of nature works quite well with the music here). Good speakers are a must and a task that allows the mind to wander and drift is something you’d want to be doing at the same time. Alphabetising your CD collection, or perhaps editing some photo albums of old would be a good place to start. 

Perhaps by its very nature it becomes an album you’re not sure what to do with. The immaculately constructed underlying music is often brought at odds with some ever so slightly jarring notes and noises at times. This  does encourage the listener to actually think about the music and the layers within and it is easy to get lost in it – but also hard to relax completely (hence the suggestion of some tasks to accompany a listening). 

Detailed, elegantly crafted, and brave it is. It’s also somewhat challenging listening and over the course of the whole album the tracks can float away from the listener, in the way of a jazz solo that doesn’t fall back into the song it began with, never giving you the melody pay-off or soft landing. It’s a collection of music no doubt perfect for something in your life. Figuring that out is the next step.