Listening to Pictures

2018 studio album by Jon Hassell

Studio album by

Jon Hassell

Released

June 8, 2018 (2018-06-08)

Studio

Studio Venice, California

Genre

Avant-garde

Length

38:41

Label

Ndeya

Producer

Jon Hassell

Jon Hassell chronology

Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street
(2009)

Listening to Pictures
(2018)

Seeing Through Sound
(2020)

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	84/100^[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	^[2]
Exclaim!	8/10^[3]
The Guardian	^[4]
The Independent	^[5]
Pitchfork	7.3/10^[6]
Resident Advisor	4.0/5^[7]
Vice (Expert Witness)	A−^[8]

Listening to Pictures is a studio album by Jon Hassell. It was released on his own record label, Ndeya, on June 8, 2018.^[9] It peaked at number 34 on the UK Dance Albums Chart,^[10] as well as number 34 on the UK Independent Albums Chart.^[11]

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 84% based on 10 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[1]

John Lewis of The Guardian gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying, "Hassell's electronic soundscapes recall the work of Oneohtrix Point Never, Boards of Canada or Aphex Twin."^[4] He added, "Hassell is into exploring the multiple layers that exist in his sound, what he calls 'vertical listening' – and this is certainly dense, endlessly mutating music that rewards multiple listenings."^[4] Dave Beech of The Independent gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying, "it's not an album that strives for immediacy, but is best soaked in over multiple listens."^[5] Robert Ham of Pitchfork gave the album a 7.3 out of 10, saying: "Its eight tracks are teeming with strands of melody and unbound rhythms that have been meticulously constructed into groaning towers of sound."^[6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jon Hassell

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dreaming"	6:08
2.	"Picnic"	5:58
3.	"Slipstream"	2:54
4.	"Al Kongo Udu"	5:12
5.	"Pastorale Vassant"	3:59
6.	"Manga Scene"	5:44
7.	"Her First Rain"	1:38
8.	"Ndeya"	7:06

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

Musicians

Jon Hassell – trumpet, keyboards, orchestration
Rick Cox – guitar, synthesizer, electronics
John von Seggern – bass guitar, drums, electronics
Hugh Marsh – electric violin, electronics
Peter Freeman – bass guitar, electronics (2, 3, 7)
Ralph Cumbers – drum programming (2)
Christoph Harbonnier – bass guitar (3)
Christian Jacob – bass guitar (3)
Michel Redolfi – electronics (3)
Eivind Aarset – electric guitar, sampler (8)
Kheir-Eddine M'Kachiche – violin, sampler (8)

Technical personnel

Jon Hassell – production
Rick Cox – co-production
Matthew Jones – executive production
Britton Powell – coordination
Al Carlson – mastering
Arnaud Mercier – additional mastering
Valgeir Sigurðsson – additional mastering
Dan Kuehn – art direction
Arien Valizadeh – art direction
Taska Cleveland – art direction
Mati Klarwein – album art sources, inspiration
Petra Gehrmann – publishing

Charts

Chart	Peak position
UK Dance Albums (OCC)^[10]	34
UK Independent Albums (OCC)^[11]	34

References

^ ^a ^b "Listening to Pictures (Pentimento Volume I) by Jon Hassell". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
^ May, Chris (April 23, 2018). "Jon Hassell: Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume One)". All About Jazz. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
^ Sylvester, Daniel (June 5, 2018). "Jon Hassell: Listening to Pictures (Pentimento Volume One)". Exclaim!. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lewis, John (May 25, 2018). "Contemporary album of the month – Jon Hassell: Listening to Pictures (Pentimento Volume I)". The Guardian. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Kaplan, Ilana; Beech, Dave (June 6, 2018). "Album reviews: Lykke Li's 'so sad, so sexy', Gruff Rhys's 'Babelsberg' and more". The Independent. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Ham, Robert (June 8, 2018). "Jon Hassell: Listening to Pictures (Pentimento Volume One)". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
^ Coultate, Aaron (June 12, 2018). "Jon Hassell - Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume One)". Resident Advisor. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
^ Christgau, Robert (June 15, 2018). "Robert Christgau on Jon Hassell's "Anxiety-Easing, Life-Enhancing" New LP". Noisey. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
^ Coultate, Aaron (April 5, 2018). "Jon Hassell returns with Listening To Pictures, his first album in nine years". Resident Advisor. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Official Dance Albums Chart Top 40: 15 June 2018 - 21 June 2018". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50: 15 June 2018 - 21 June 2018". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 16, 2018.