Experimental music can take an endless number of forms, and in his recent releases, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Les Brown appears to want to explore as many of them as possible, along with making up new combinations of his own. Influenced by the world’s best-known musical envelope pushers such as Tangerine Dream, King Crimson and Brian Eno, Brown’s Second Full-length album full of musical twists and turns is due out June 28.
Aptly named The Next One (since the first one was entitled The First One), the forthcoming album sees Brown continuing his journey of sound discovery and he invites his listeners to open their minds and walk the path with them. Largely self-taught, the production levels Brown produces are quite high quality and his composition borders on classical, which means he must have researched quite a bit to put these albums together. Listening to his earlier singles, “Meat Grinder Variations No. 1” and “Approaching Equinox,” it’s clear that Brown has that sound scientist (or mad scientist) spark and curiosity that has made so many of the greats in progressive and experimental music.
My albums are meant to be like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates: “You never know what you’re going to hear.” If one tune isn’t your favorite flavor, try a different one.
I blend music genres, geographic regions, languages, instruments to make unique music with emotion and feeling. Some songs invoke fun or playfulness, while other songs are closer to rock or jazz, and others are entrancing psychedelia, an auditory space to explore or be enveloped within.
That’s certainly the case with The Next One, which, in its four preview tracks, covers everything from funk to new wave to new age to true ambient music. The box of chocolates is on full display and no matter what fans choose, the selection will be high quality and interesting, with different textures and flavours throughout each piece.
I write music to capture the sound and feeling of being in a new and unfamiliar, or perhaps mysterious, but always unthreatening place. I try to invoke feelings of being in a new space, real or imagined, for the listener to think “That’s interesting!” or “I hadn’t thought of that before. Cool!” I want the listener to enjoy experiencing music that is new and interesting, with no pretense or lessons; just the listener observing and coming along for the ride.
A fan just as much as an artist, Les Brown invites his audience to tinker with him and find the fun and experimentation in sound. The Next One is the next one in a trilogy of albums, so Brown is still just getting warmed up!
