Jóhann Jóhannssen – And In the Endless Pause There Came the Sound of Bees

There’s this idea which I subscribe to that if we spend too much time looking at the TV, it saps our imagination. All the work on building images in our head is done for us by the image on the screen. So, we just go into passive mode.

Well, if you want to reconnect with your imagination you could try listening to Jóhann Jóhannsson’s album “And in the endless pause there came the sound of bees”. In the very first track where there is the sound of seagulls arising out of the orchestral strings, the imagination can’t help but build pictures out of the music.

It is deeply emotional music, which will lift and drop your spirits as you listen. And just when you think you are listening to traditional string-based soundtrack music, things veer off into ambient distortions that drop your head underwater in a dramatic way.

The whole thing is just under 37 minutes long (that’s what vinyl used to be on average), and leaves you feeling both soothed and disturbed. It’s a beautiful achievement and a landscape of your own mind which I recommend you spend some time building. Enjoy.