(November 2009) The cover art should be a clue to the music inside. A skull, with part of the cranium cut away and replaced with an amethyst. This is a startlingly accurate image for Brain Geodes, the latest album from Christopher Jion. The very name of the album is evocative of a cave filled with multicolored crystal stalactites and stalagmites, glistening in pale light.
All these images can be taken as near-literal descriptions of the music – compositions made from Game Boy sound chips in Nanoloop with lots of reverb. They are constructed of loops one or two measure long, repeated and gradually modulated over the course of several minutes. The tones themselves are crystalline and icy, always staccato and precise. Overtones, sometimes derived from reverb of the notes themselves, ride across the quantized network of notes. More often than not, the atmospheres of the compositions are unsettling, gradually adding to the feeling of unease as time goes on.
The individual tracks themselves are better looked at as part of the cohesive whole of Brain Geodes. They are all constructed of the same sharp 8-bit tones, and are usually devoid of percussion. All of them are cold and nerve-wracking, making you wait on the edge of your seat for the next rhythmic variation or tonal change. Taken in small pieces, Brain Geodes is a very interesting exploration, which is entrancing in its simplicity and elegance.
However, towards the end of the album Jion’s style somewhat overstays its welcome. His palette is limited due to the nature of the Game Boy sound chip, and by the time the first hour rolls by I found myself wanting to listen to something else. Brain Geodes might have been better executed as a 30-minute EP, which would have been enough time to introduce and explore the sonic territory in the album without becoming stale. Regardless, Brain Geodes is an interesting and inventive introduction to the mind of Christopher Jion. With more development, Jion could do wonders in the world of ambient music. I encourage readers to start with two free releases on Jion’s own Dirgefunk Records, 07/03/2007 10:01am and This Creature Sleeps Beyond the Flow Of Time. I found them to be much easier to digest, and they helped me further appreciate and contextualize Brain Geodes.
Brain Geodes is out now on Dirgefunk. [Purchase]
