therein - Please Observe the Wheel

​Therein

Please Observe the Wheel
self-released; 2016

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

It’s a fact of life that some people enjoy playing the flute. I’ve ignored those people almost  entirely and let them live their flute loving lives in peace. Well I knew it was only a matter of time before I listened to a musician who for some reason has some reverence for the flute. Although Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull is the only person to make playing the flute look cool I can appreciate a flute on a recorded format.

All joking aside. The flute doesn’t show up very often in any genre besides classical. The saxophone had a resurgence in indie rock and everyone from Destroyer to Deerhunter was implementing it into their songs. Although I’m sure the the flute does show up some places I don’t think anyone can claim it’s an ubiquitous instrument. 

A twenty-year-old who calls himself therein likes to play this fanciful instrument known as the flute according to his Bandcamp page. The flute is in fact the focus point of his EP Please Observe the Wheel. Along the way his flute has some accompaniment from synths. I have to say it’s a delightful combination - some would call experimental or avant-garde. Please Observe the Wheel feels sparse and improvisational. The songs even if they aren’t seem to be rooted in free jazz. 

Take for instance the opener “Knots.” The synth provides the brick and mortar for the song. Without it the song wouldn’t have much of a foundation. The flute seems to freely go in and out  of existence in the most whimsical of ways which if it went on any longer would overstay it's welcome. 

“Anguish of Flowers” is similar to the opener in that it never deviates from the central idea. On “Anguish of Flowers” the synth is heavy, dense and almost overbearing as it shifts pitch. The flute is still the lead but by a smaller margin. The flute is in full effect on “Chemical Flood.” Dreamy synths ascend to a hypnotic state while the flute is unencumbered and as light as a feather.  Therein closes with “Finger-wagger Nope” which is similar to pieces that came before. Synths fluctuate and drone while the flute does it’s thing. 

​Please Observe the Wheel is a novel idea and works as an EP. I think a full of album of this one concept would run dry but perhaps therein has some ideas that I’m not aware of. After spending some time with the flute perhaps I was wrong to ignore all these flute loving people most of my life.

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