A soft swell opens ‘In The Absence Of Gravity Please Note The Position Of The Sun’ and soon an acoustic guitar is percussed, tapping out block chords. A distant harmonica sounds chords, blending, articulating a different harmonic perspective. Sounds feed through a delay (or delays), so what you hear returns, mixes with new parts in motion. Layers and sounds constructed, slowly. Then the mood shifts to pulsing granulation, and a fluttering of chords. Then shifts, then changes, then…

Gravity/Bees, Koen Holtkamp‘s second solo album and first for Thrill Jockey, consists of two side-long tracks that show Holtkamp’s mastery of carefully developed compositions of layered sonic bliss. Let’s get it out of the way early and simply say that Gravity/Bees is gorgeous and will feed every part of you that thirsts for textures that open passageways and perspectives. As with his work in Mountains, Holtkamp works precisely as he stacks and develops his compositions. There’s such a depth to his sonic landscapes, so much space. It is a world he’s made entirely his own. Holtkamp’s palette of tones — acoustic and electric, clean and processed — is ineffably identifiable as his: a combination of unmistakable breadth and richness.

The two pieces were made using different techniques: ‘In the Absence of Gravity…’ uses a live recording of his 2008 solo performance at Brighton as its basis. Inspired by Terry Riley’s “time lag accumulator” compositions, this foundation showcased Holtkamp’s stunning ability to weave his playing in and out itself as it feeds through a delay and accrues new thicknesses of sound. In the studio, the piece gathers further tones, moods, threads and dynamism. Processed acoustic guitar, analog synthesizers, electronics, harmonica, electric organ, small percussion objects, and “an unlikely glass of ginger ale” according to the press release.

‘Loosely Based on Bees’ is more identifiably a studio piece (with a few live recordings worked in towards the end), though it uses a fantastic, pun-inducing field recording of the interior of a bee hive as its harmonic base (think “drones at work”…). Capturing the sounds of the droning bees with binaural microphones placed within the hive, Holtkamp overdubbed his guitar tuned to open D and used analog filters to sympathetically tune his instrumentation to the bees in motion. The result is an ingenious blend of the natural and the man-made. The bees hold the focus of the mix at the beginning, and gradually fade into its structure as Holtkamp’s instrumentation takes on the granulated buzzing of the bees. Nature nurtures.

Where bees drone perpetually, Holtkamp reveals a music within. There is process there, and Gravity/Bees shows that one can create process live or in the studio and the results point to the same thing: a world worth listening to. At the very least, Holtkamp’s world certainly is. So get to it. (But take your time once you get there.)