Search - Jeffrey Thompson :: Brainwave Journey

Feed your head. This is the basic premise that undergirds various Brainwave packages (Brainwave Suite, Brainwave Symphony) that have been assembled by acoustic theorist Jeffrey Thompson. Thompson takes things audible (nature sounds and average electronic music on Suite; orchestral music on Symphony) and implants in them subsonic pulses and frequencies (but not subliminal messages, we're told) that allegedly attune the brain to prescribed, desirable states: theta waves for "uplifting emotion"; alpha waves for an "alert, relaxed mind"; and so on. For this set, Thompson offers four hour-long discs, each of which is divided into two sections. The first involves guided imagery that's delivered in a strange, disembodied voice by Owen Morrison. The second is a windswept, atmospheric drone of electronics that at times effectively invites your mind to float away on an astral voyage. This is essentially what is heard on the first half, only it's cluttered by Morrison's persistent and--to the uninitiated ear--annoying chatter. "Feel the exquisite melody of joy rippling through every cell," he tells us. It's a little tough when his oddly fuzzed-up sci-fi voice sometimes goes on and on as if he's delivering baseball play-by-play from another dimension. That's a pity, because the latter halves offer blissful, above-average states of motionlessness. (Of course, for superb space-walk music, investigate Jonn Serrie.) --Terry Wood