Ben Chasny has been recording as The Six Organs of Admittance for over 10 years now. This moniker is a Buddhist term deriving from the belief that these are six paths of admittance to the other world (wherever that may be). The five senses ,or organs, together with the sixth – the soul make up the requisite entry requirements.

Chasny apparently came across the term while reading a book about Chinese hermits and claims he chose it not so much for its spiritual associations but because he thought the name would look cool on the album sleeve. That said, a guy who spends his leisure hours reading about Asian mysticism rather than, say, Dan Brown, suggests someone with at the very least a passing interest in things spiritual. His music reflects this leaning too with its layers of chimes, monotone vocals, drones and repetitive sound patterns. The hypnotic ritualistic quality is certainly well suited for meditative or ritualistic practices.

Chasny may not be able to match the pin-up appeal of Devendra Banhart but is still a key figurehead of the continuation and modernising of America’s rich musical heritage that falls within the umbrella term of the ‘New Weird America’.

One brainchild of Chasny was the monumental Time Lag/Eclipse triple album ‘By the fruits you shall know the roots” which features one side of his own compositions alongside contributions from Jack Rose, Matt Valentine, Fursaxa, Dredd Foole and Joshua Burkett/Kemialliset Ystavat . The biblical reference of the title, together with the uncompromisingly experimental nature of the sounds contained within serves as a far more convincing blueprint for the diversity and energy of this musical movement than Banhart’s more populist mix tape for Arthur Magazine. (The Golden Apples Of The Sun).

Interestingly too, Chasny says he was not particularly drawn to traditional Folk Music genre but instead found inspiration in Acid-Rock guitar sound of John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Barry Melton (Country Joe & the Fish) and Jorma Kaukonan (Jefferson Airplane). This partly explains a recent article in UK gutter level tabloid The Sun in which Ben Chasny came to be dubbed the “Jimi Hendrix of Folk“. The piece cited Chasny’s own parallel contribution to the more metal orientated Comets On Fire to further justify this absurd label.

Anyone less flamboyant or Hendrix-like than Chasny would be hard to imagine. He is happy to preserve a low profile – his image features on the cover on Compathia but the rest of his albums use Zen-like minimalist imagery. He is not interested in encouraging a cult of personality – in an interview for Rhino he said : “I am inspired to make the most communicative music with the least amount of ego that I can”

On occasions his music can stray into the territory of overly intense dirges but as I happily witnessed in a show he played in Ravenna last week (see my last.fm review) his current musical and romantic partnership with Magik Marker Elisa Ambrogio has galvanised his live sound to give even greater prominence to Psych-noise rock. His performance confirmed for me that he is one of most significant figures to emerge from America’s ‘underground’ music scene.