My earlier experiences of the phenomenon I’ve subsequently come to realise is called ASMR were always induced cognitively, in the sense that it tended to be a situation no different to usual except someone might have told me something that got me thinking a certain way; my strongest memory is of a bloke I was working with in the late 90s telling me about some of the temples and religious practices of his homeland and it absolutely fascinated me. The term I used back then to label this feeling was ‘cerebral orgasm.’ Don’t judge me.
So it’s only this year that I’ve become aware of the sub-genre of music dedicated to that, and suddenly all sorts of music is doing that to me. I don’t think Aphir probably even thinks of her music as ASMR adjacent but it certainly has that effect on me.
So Aphir is Becki Whitton and on this release she uses only her vocals, layered and treated, to create stunning choral soundscapes. I’d also been enjoying choral music more in the last year as well, so this album’s melding of choral and drone is very much a sweet-spot. I can’t recommend this highly enough.
Soundbergs 