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from Ear Pollution e-zine (posted 9.2.2002)
written by Mark Teppo
http://www.earpollution.com/
Ben Swire - Equilibrium (The Foundry - 2002)
The tantalizing lure of EPs is that they are brief, shining moments of crystalline effort which leave the listener quivering for another taste. When done well, they never overstay their welcome. The Foundry is seeking to bring back the EP with a series of all-too-brief records which promise to charm and delight with their cheerily finite presentation. The first one to drop is Ben Swire's elegant Equilibrium EP.
There is a familiar breathiness to the beginning, a tiny winsome melody which creeps along like the opening moments of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works, Volume II. It is a series of tones that slowly unfold much like a flower unraveling itself to the dawn. Swire's nod to the history of ambient music is brief before he begins to add texture and depth to these opening notes; a back of the throat style tickle swims past, buoyed by a chorus of indistinct voices. Delicate beats pulsate like the thickening colors on the sun-straining plant.
There isn't room to noodle around on an EP. The artist must be concise and precise with their ideas -- an additional allure of the format. Swire carries themes and melodies from track to track, effortlessly building and discarding as he works across the four tracks of Equilibrium. "Interim" bleeds into "Departure" as the beats become more prevalent, more regimented and insistent over the delicate filigree of the melody. "Knot" blossoms like a slower, more emotionally fragile sibling of the first two children of the record, and "Score" is the haunted step-child who can never quite let go of the night terrors which frightened it as a baby.
Each track is shorter than the last and the entire proceeding seems like it could fit in the palm of your hand. Close your fingers and it is gone. But it is testament to Ben Swire's ability that echoes of the melodies and tones persist long after the EP is done.