The first minute and a half of Altered Realities seems to be a minimal and slightly quirky bit of electroacoustic music. Near the end of that first 90 seconds, however, one begins to suspect that one has been listening to a rather long “hook,” and sure enough, a guitar enters playing a simple little tune over a soft wash of electronics. Fortunately, although the little guitar lick never goes away, the electronic wash continues to include odd little dissonant zips and zaps now and again—not quite enough to distract from the guitar licks, if you like that kind of thing, but also enough to hold your attention if you don’t.

Indeed, this album could easily pass, at a low enough volume, for another New Age offering. And throughout, there is this rather uneasy truce between the forces of regularity and consonance and the forces of interesting and quirky electronics. While the uneasiness is in itself a factor that keeps me coming back to this music, it’s definitely the quirks that hold me. Right under the surface, there’s a genuinely fascinating world of all sorts of strange little noises, if you give it your attention.

Give it your attention.

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