There’s noise — and there’s music. Resonance is where the two intersect; one person hears noise, another hears music – yet both feel the resonance. In this intersection, I find a low reverberation that arcs between brain and chest, equal parts comforting and unsettling. The un-aesthetic of noise begets a meditative journey for patient appreciators wanting to literally resonate with the artist.

Very Large Array #87

Very Large Array invites the viewer to listen to the process by which the images are rendered. The presentation builds, stalls, and shifts at an unpredictable pace. Compositions range from subtly pleasing to borderline aggressive. These would look sick projected behind a post-rock band (apologies to the girlfriend who I dragged to a Godspeed! You Black Emperor show, but I think history will prove me right on that one) or a noise band (apologies to Trinity and my now-wife for dragging them to a Swans show, which definitely was ‘too loud’) or maybe just behind any band with absolute conviction.

Very Large Array #24

What matters more than conviction? The confidence of the artist and the implicit faith that by Putting This Out There the work will find its true fans: a dedicated group to praise, dissect, and even evangelize. In the presence of a like mind, they might say, “Hey, check this out. It’s different in a good way, but you really have to give it a couple of listens to get it.”

Very Large Array #89

But maybe you don’t vibe with it, not even one bit. At the very least you gave it an honest shot, the brief moment of surrender that art deserves. Would that guy be hitting the drums like that if he didn’t think there was something absolutely urgent to convey? Would these Arrays be nearly As Large if the person behind the keyboard was not confident in the message, abstract and punishing though it may be?