I popped this in and immediately it took me to one of those “sounds of serenity” type CDs that some people get to relax after a hard day or to help them get to sleep. That’s exactly what Asher’s disc is like—like gently lapping waves. Mr. Asher, I mean you no disrespect when I make such a comparison. I do not mean to belittle your art or make it out to be a kitschy album that can be pulled off the shelf at the Discovery store. I really mean this as a compliment. “Landscape Studies” is able to take “certain frequencies and events…the intrusion of outside sounds into my home environment” (Asher’s words) and make them soft pulses that tenderly rise up from one’s speakers and sink back slowly into the depths from which they came. Here, minimalism is key. The old cliché, “less is more” couldn’t be more appropriate. Absolute silence stands before you like a benevolent dominatrix offering up a slow yet steady set of soft pulses that glide into your ear canals and soothingly run down your spine. Wrapped up in a caress of existence—just being. Plain and simple. It’s not going to rock anybody’s world, but it does what it assumedly set out to do: it speaks—only in a soft whisper. But in a world full of silence, sometimes whispers command the most attention. 7/10 -- Dave Miller (27 May, 2009)