Ethernet – 144 Pulsations Of Light

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Tim Gray, the California ambient musician who records under the name Ethernet, wants to heal you… literally. In a press release accompanying 144 Pulsations of Light, his debut LP for Kranky, Gray explains his intent behind the record was to “apply trance-inducing sonic effects to drone-ambient music… to produce an introspective sonic environment conducive to self-healing work and voyaging into new states of awareness.” That’s a pretty ambitious claim to make about one’s own music, and whether or not you buy into Gray’s ideas about the medicinal qualities of his album– frankly I don’t feel any more enlightened or balanced after hearing it– there’s no doubt that Ethernet sits nicely alongside the meditative sounds of artists such as Gas, Boards of Canada, and Stars of the Lid.
Rather than expanding upon one type of drone or ambient, Gray looks to synthesize a few of the more pleasant strains of both genres– working in particular towards blending Wolfgang Voigt’s muted propulsion with the airier groans of avant-pop groups like Talk Talk. It’s not the most imaginative approach– similar work has been done by contemporaries White Rainbow and the Fun Years, among others– but if you have a sweet spot for this sort of thing, chances are you’ll find stretches of the album to enjoy. Though it doesn’t always operate within this one style, 144 Pulsations of Light works best when aiming directly for an ambient techno/light drone fusion. On swirling opener “Majestic” and the lengthy “Vaporous”, which worms distorted synths through depth-charge bass pulses, the album circles in on something close to trance-like.
Gray is wise to play with atmosphere and switch gears throughout the record, though some of his tonal shifts work better than others. “Summer Insects” and “Kansai” are two of the more successful, the former using crackling vinyl pops and field recordings to sketch out an agrarian landscape. These natural textures, which bring to mind some of Bibio’s current work, play nicely off the dronier pieces here, but a few of the album’s later tracks tend to stall out with less complexity. “Seaside” looks to create a coastal vibe by riding a gentle, repetitive synth pattern, but there isn’t enough movement or dynamism to elevate it beyond a pleasant instrumental. Any such detour into background music can be dangerous on an album like this, and Gray does a good job of mostly avoiding them, but a few missteps ultimately keep the record from achieving its intended goal of full-on ethereality.