By Grant Kelly, Contributor

[Temporary Residence; 2024]

Rating: 5/10

Key Tracks: “September 23rd”

September 23rd is the newest addition to the extensive catalog of prolific ambient musician William Basinski, and one of his many decades-old archival releases throughout his career. This 40-minute track was based off of a piano composition recorded to cassette as a teenager in the 1970s, and, in typical Basinski fashion, was reworked into an expansive, warped drone piece in 1982. September 23rd alternates between a few different melodic phrases of the original composition throughout its runtime, having them gradually fade into one another and be abstracted by copious amounts of reverb.

But although it contains a consistent atmosphere and occasional glimpses of greatness, the album is hindered by its compositional simplicity and a noticeable lack of direction. 

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Many of Basinski’s works, even those I consider all-time favorites, are very minimalistic and oriented around repetition. With these albums, their appeal mostly comes from their ability to craft a hypnotic atmosphere from simple elements, which gives them a profoundly meditative quality. In these cases, the repeated musical phrases they’re based around contain some sort of mystique or minute details to pick apart that make them rewarding to listen to over and over, but with September 23rd, the sampled recording simply lacks that extra draw. Another element that stuck out to me right away was how the piece awkwardly drops out into silence multiple times throughout the album, causing any tension and atmosphere that had been building up to dissipate, making it difficult to become fully invested as a listener. 

The album does have its moments of genuine beauty, however. About 8 minutes into the piece, the main piano loop becomes consumed by reverb, producing an enveloping wall of sound and distant noise that feels as though you’re laying on a beach with the ocean slowly washing over you. These passages where reverb kicks in more heavily also produce an intriguing grainy effect that brings in a sense of decomposition to the piece that wasn’t present in the beginning. 

The section of the piece where the second piano melody appears for the first time is maybe the best moment on the album; it comes in quiet at first, before swallowing it whole and taking control of the piece, like a radio broadcast being overtaken by static. Another intriguing moment occurs around 33 minutes, where an additional recording comes in to harmonize with the main piano line, revealing another layer to the piece that I hadn’t expected.

While the album shares some of the characteristics that have come to define Basinski’s most impactful works, the lack of depth and easily identifiable nature of the sampled material in this piece ultimately make it not worth the length. As an experience, September 23rd feels inexplicably disjointed, like a film that’s been cut completely out of order. It’s certainly interesting to hear what Basinski’s work sounded like decades before he established himself as an artist, but as far as this particular piece goes, I’d rather just listen to one of his later albums where its ideas became more refined.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/album/5QTmWeXjfyPuQjyO6Nhsor