Ben Rath – Anything Is Possible (Sound In Silence, 2018)

cover

The act of doing something is more than just a moment of creation or a period of action. It is a flow from conception to desire to visualisation to motivation to enactment. It is a series of hurdles, each as challenging in its own right as the last, that must be overcome before that glimmering goal is achieved. It can be a struggle at times, a lack of time or energy slowing progress, or technical obstacles that must be wrangled before proceeding. But all good things require effort and patience, and although it might sound corny if you apply yourself well, Anything Is Possible.

This record is anything but corny though, it’s the soft voice of a good friend egging you on, the earnest words of a parent willing you to push forwards. Listen to “Innate Value”, whose guitar chords bend and shimmer outwards in slow and light strokes. Personality and character just oozes out in careful warblings, slowly melting into a pool of golden light, talents and desires converging into a single path of clear direction and purpose.

Close follower “All Part of One” continues that thoughtline filled with a simpering haze of static-washed drone sustenance. Noise feels greater than the sum of its parts doesn’t it? A sonic whole brimming with the energies of a mass collective of frequencies and blips, countless individual facets forming a greater whole. It’s like you: a conscious organism comprised of billions of distinct cells all working together for the same cause. Why not put them to good use?

It doesn’t have to be a hardship, as sophomore “Flow of Creation” outlines in its relaxing 8 minute span. It unwinds in luxuriously gauzy motions, moving forwards at its own ready pace maturing as it does so. It densifies and amalgamates into something fuller and heavier as synth passages begin to emerge out of the cruising drones. Yet it remains permeable throughout, willing to move with its tidal motions towards a full and clear conclusion. It should even be fun, says “Joy”, bouncing into the fray with striking, direct tones that gleam with a refractive brilliance, moments of inspiration bouncing off the walls of the mind just bursting to be set free into the world.

Motivational strength and gravity is lent to the title track at the close, a bold closing statement to forge the argument and push us towards action. It brims with Hecker drones, complex waves of overlapping textures and buzzing fractal aural geometries. It is insistence and pressure, a rocket motor of directional power and forcefulness forged to propel us post-haste in the direction of success. It’s the clamour of voices urging us to get on and finish up; they want this for us as much as we should want it for ourselves. It’s a heck of a closer, but it’s the kick up the arse that we sometimes need to hear to get us back into gear to go out and do again.