John Also Bennett - Sacred House (Versions) (2026)

Sacred House (Versions) is a 26 minute EP by American composer John Also Bennett. Consisting of four variations on “Sacred House”, a minimal, haunting composition first released on his 2025 album Ston Elaióna, Sacred House (Versions) continues Bennett’s engagement with resonance, empty space, and the small details hidden just below, using piano, bass flute, and synthesizers to create remarkably different yet entirely coherent new versions of the same piece of music.

The EP opens with “Sacred House (Piano)”, recorded on a Steinway tuned in a just-intonation raga scale by Bennett’s late collaborator Michael Harrison. Positioning the work in the physical realm, the piano was close-miked to capture its microscopic, shimmering resonance patterns in high definition. The late summer soundscape from outside of the studio is just perceptable, placing the listener directly in the room with the piano - the air becomes audible as Bennett’s patient chord progressions unfold.

“Sacred House (Bass Flute)” uses Bennett’s bass flute, here multi-tracked on top of itself three times. Arranged for woodwinds the piece takes on an almost regal air, its held notes bringing out beating tone illusions reminiscent of Phill Niblock’s “Four Full Flutes”, but with more room to breathe. “Sacred House (Prophet)” uses a Prophet synthesizer, bringing the EP into a hyper-real space. Long tones glide across a burning horizon and melt into the sky, in contrast to the delicate water beads of the original version for DX7, which closes out the EP.

As with much of Bennett’s music, focused listening can reveal previously unheard dimensions of sound and trigger vivid, subconscious imagery. The title “Sacred House” stems from the building that housed the oracle of ancient Dodoni in Greece, the country in which Bennett resides. Unique to the Dodoni temple was the sacred oak tree in its courtyard; priests and priestesses would listen to the wind rustling through its leaves, and to ringing tones from bronze cauldrons, interpreting these sounds as divine wisdom. Bennett’s engagement with and thoughtful consideration of simple sonic details perhaps mirrors that practice - a humble desire to attain insight by tuning in closely to the mysteries of sound.