Bohon, John Paul: Scheele's Green CS

All genres have their dangers. Electronic music makes it easy to be too precise or bloodless, and it’s no coincidence that many of its earliest pioneers embraced the element of chance. John Paul Bohon builds his music from layers of chance. What starts as a blur of raw sounds and ideas is refined over time, often several months, to create brilliantly structured capsules of atmosphere and mood: all told, it took three years to develop these seven tracks. Bohon’s debut album, Scheele’s Green, is ambient music—but with a clear sense of purpose and direction. Each song is long enough to establish its own world, yet succinct enough that it never wears out its welcome. No one track lets you know what you’re in for next. Scheele’s Green is music to fall into, but it’s not a passive listening experience. This is an album in the classic sense of the world. It starts somewhere specific and takes you on a journey.