Every now and then a body of music manifests itself in the music stratosphere bringing forth a cause for comment. James Leyland Kirby, otherwise known as The Caretaker, is the brilliance behind An Empty Bliss Beyond This World.
The long-running musical project embodies memory as music in an edifying manner, chronicling time and space in an orchestra of static, white noise, and grainy ballroom jazz. The elements that makeup the result are a miscellany of sounds from the 70s, looped, and edited. On the surface this may seem like another record that put the likes of electronic acts like James Blake on the music map, however, it is much more than that.
The musical stream of consciousness that is An Empty Bliss was realized when a 2010 study suggested that patients suffering from Alzheimer’s seemed to have an improved recalling experience within the course of a musical context.
Hardly a panacea for progressive mental deterioration, the formula behind the initiative brings forth a newfound appreciation of sound. Further, it insists and reinstates the therapeutic potency of music as we know it.
You can purchase or listen to the album here.
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