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Adam Berenson: Dwelling on Magic

Mountain

By Karl Ackermann
February 1, 2024
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Pianist and keyboardist Adam Berenson excels in various music genres including jazz, classical
and electronica. His solo box-set Every Beginning is a Sequel (Dream Play, 2020) found the
exploratory composer employing an arsenal of keyboards and high-end synthesizers in his
original compositions. Berenson returns to that general cache of instruments for Dwelling on
Magic Mountain, another solo outing.

The six lengthy tracks cover a lot of stylistic ground. Dark and portentous, "Cryptomnesia"
opens the set in a place where ambient trance glides into what could pass for an otherworldly
Brahms fugue. Berenson radically shifts gears with "Only the little things." Winding and highly
animated, the piece is carried on perplexing waves. Another dramatic alteration of sound occurs
with "The body as partial organ (a pure subject)." Haunting and more ambient, Berenson
interjects bell-like accents which gently jar the senses and elevate the music with contrasting
dynamics. "Help is on the way (for Weather Report)" is a sequencer-driven, somewhat weird,
bubbling, repetitive piece. Berenson simulates looping woodwind sounds throughout, adding an
opposing ethereal quality to often-dizzying footing. "Love's labors eradicated" closes the set. A
dark, monastic and mysterious elegy, it is both lyrical and cryptic.

Berenson fully explores the many diverse influences he has touched on since his early releases,
but he rarely travels the same path twice, Dwelling on Magic Mountain is unpredictable from the
very beginning, not just due to the variety of musical styles, but because of how the pieces are
executed. The album imparts the unmistakable sense that Berenson, the consummate genre-less
composer, is having fun interacting with technology. He does so without completely scrambling
his inventive compositions and improvisations. Berenson imbues his electronics and synthesizers
with some semblance of organic life; he turns cold, hard circuitry into dimly lit back streets,
intergalactic flights of fancy, and heartfelt lyricism.

Track Listing

Cryptomnesia; Only the little things; The Psychoanalytic Quarterly; The body as partial organ (a
pure subject); Help is on the way (for Weather Report); Love’s labors eradicated.

Personnel

Adam Berenson

synthesizer

Additional Instrumentation

Adam Berenson: Sequential Oberheim OB-6; Sequential Prophet XL; Sequential Prophet Rev2;
Sequential Pro 3; Korg Triton Extreme; Moog Subsequent 37/Boss Space Echo RE-202; Yamaha
reface CP.
Album information

Title: Dwelling on Magic Mountain | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: Dream Play Records