I was fascinated by the attitude of Jeph Jerman towards sound and it's aesthetic and the music itself prior to listening to anything of his creations. If I did listen to Hands To or Jeph Jerman some time before, I cannot remember that. Raw and pure sound, music made of ordinary sounds and field recordings that your ears are so used to that you simply ignore them. Confrontation of silence and sound - all that you hear is music, you just need to learn and listen to it. Four Drivers is the new work of Jeph Jerman, released in limited CD edition via Polish label Impulsy Stetoskopu. Non standard packaging though I couldn't say that it's beautiful - canvas envelope with album title and number of disc written on it and plastic envelope with disc and minimal information about it inside. Almost an hour of static ambience is played with, if I understand correctly, strings of grand piano, resonating from vibrations of four battery-powered fans. In the description it's said "upright piano harp driven by fourbattery-powered fans". Conceptual and good record that starts from single sounding string and spreading through the album into massive construction of dissonances in the end of the release. Disc is absolutely minimalistic that you need not only to listen to, but to hear it too (paradox, heh?). It's like meditation in sound when you hear minimal changes in the material, stretched to an hour of length. Like watching the flower burst into bloom - into big and colorful blossom. Four Drivers is divided into two parts - the first one takes 3/4 of the whole length and it's opening of the blossom. And the second part - florescence. In fact I don't quite understand why this monolithic record was divided - maybe a part of development of sound was cut out and only full intensity left in the end of the album or something like that. You almost see how new sounds are born while you listen to this disc - from the most silent, microscopic allusions, growing and evolving, and imperceptibly flowing into the sea of resonances. I like to dissect HNW releases in such way, so I could say that at least conceptually this album is similar to wall-like releases. An interesting disc and its ideas are backed-up by a nice sound foundation. I think people who are into statics will surely enjoy it. 

Format: CD
Released: 2010
Label: Impulsy Stetoskopu
Edition: 250