Written by Benjamin Parker 

Art by Lute Campbell 

When my family first brought home a box set of CDs titled The Listening Program for me to try, I hadn’t fully developed my own taste in music yet. All I remember is listening to long stretches of classical music and calming nature sounds, sometimes both at the same time, throughout the day. What I hadn’t realized at the time, however, was that this was actually meant to be meditative music therapy—intended to strengthen neurological pathways and achieve optimal brain functioning (Advanced Brain). While my time using The Listening Program was admittedly short, the positive effects of classical or ambient music would go on to play a much greater part later in life.

In my early-to-mid teens, I was very curious about exploring many different varieties of music, whether or not they ultimately fit my overall personality. During my adolescent “edgy” phase, I eagerly listened to explicit rap (Eminem and Snoop Dogg) and heavy “nu-metal” (Korn and System of a Down) songs, which I still sometimes replay today. Later, I tried adopting the same musical taste as my dad to seem more “grown-up,” dipping my toes into old progressive rock (Genesis and Yes), 80s new-wave (The Police and Joe Jackson) and even experimental jazz (Heavy Weather and Jean-Luc Ponty). All this was excitingly fresh to my young ears, a real change of pace from the music most kids my age surely listened to. Unbeknownst to me at the time, however, there were still some genres I hadn’t yet touched—but would radically affect my entire perspective on this universal art form. Curious to further expand my own sonic horizons through the music books I owned, I stumbled upon Aphex Twin by chance at the age of fifteen. 

Aphex Twin—whose real name is Richard D. James Jr.—works in the electronic genre, but don’t be fooled by the misleading term even James himself disowns “Intelligent dance music” (Furious). Many of his tracks are far from danceable, at least not in the same way as Daft Punk or Deadmau5, but they instead serve up hypnotic slices of ambient techno. Such an unorthodox musical approach probably does not appeal to everyone, yet from the moment I first played his debut album (Selected Ambient Works 85-82), it immediately drew me in. There’s no wonder it’s often ranked among the greatest electronic records of all time, and even Aphex’s entire creative peak as an artist.

Aphex’s subsequent full-length release, Selected Ambient Works Vol II, is even more challenging to the uninitiated; over the course of 2.5 hours, nameless, beatless ambient pieces are stretched out for up to 10 minutes long. To put it simply, this is music for studying rather than casually hearing on the radio. And even then, one may still be bored to sleep if they can’t get on its wavelength. As someone obviously infatuated with that particular style, though, this entire album was a mesmerizing experience to me. Believe it or not, music like that even helped increase focus on my own homework.

All throughout high school, I wasn’t always the best at concentrating on my assignments, no matter how little effort they ultimately required. Rather than further divert me from these necessary tasks, ambient music actually helped me centralize my attention on them, and all for the better too. Podcasts were also useful for completing math homework unhindered, but were admittedly distracting when trying to read or write other assignments. By design, most ambient music was largely wordless, with no pesky talking for my mind to absorb more than the educational text itself. Even just listening to it in the car at night, or while watching the sun set, felt absolutely beautiful.

Ultimately, ambient music had accomplished for me what The Listening Program had tried to many years back: help soothe my nervous emotions, organize my own thoughts, and bring myself into a more meditative state without even realizing it. As previously said, just because this genre appeals to me doesn’t mean it will be equally loved by all listeners, which is completely fine. However, there’s some value to such a niche style becoming deeply important to so many music fans, regardless of their own personal taste. Throughout the years, many ambient artists have remained deeply important to me as well, and they likely always will.