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The Sounds of Haux

Sixteen tracks of something close to weather — ambient folk built from reverb, falsetto and a great deal of restraint.

Haux

Haux is the recording name of American songwriter Woodson Black, and the project belongs to a specific corner of contemporary music that has no settled label: acoustic songwriting recorded with the production values of ambient electronica.

The method is consistent. A guitar or piano figure is played simply, then placed in an enormous amount of reverb; a falsetto vocal sits just above the noise floor; strings or synthesised pads arrive late and leave early. Nothing is emphasised. The emotional information is carried almost entirely by texture and space rather than by dynamics.

Done badly this is wallpaper. Done as well as it is here, it produces music that rewards close listening precisely because so little is happening — every small change registers.

What to listen for

"Caves" is the entry point and the most complete realisation of the approach: a song that builds for four minutes and never actually arrives anywhere, which turns out to be the intention.

"Seaside" and "Cologne" are the two most frequently found, and both are about distance in a literal sense — the songs are named after places the narrator is not.

"Eight" with Rosie Carney is the best vocal pairing on the set; her voice sits in almost exactly the same register, which produces a blend rather than a duet.

"Something To Remember" in the piano score is the one to play when the full production is too much — the same song reduced to its bones, and it holds.

"Heavy", "Arrows" and "Ricochet" are where the writing is strongest, and "Sister" is the most direct.

"The War" closes the set and is the darkest thing here.

Go deeper

Violence in a Quiet Mind (2019) is the album to start with, and it works best heard in sequence rather than shuffled.

For the wider field: Novo Amor, Bon Iver (particularly For Emma, Forever Ago), Sufjan Stevens' Carrie & Lowell and Ólafur Arnalds all work the same seam from different directions. Arnalds is the one to hear if you want the instrumental version of this idea taken as far as it goes.

How to hear it: this is headphone music, and specifically music that depends on the reverb tails being audible. On speakers in a live room the effects collide with the room's own reflections and the whole thing turns to soup; sealed in, the separation between the guitar, the voice and the space around them is the entire experience.

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