Ben Cosgrove sees the world differently than you. While you’re looking, he is listening. It would be fair to call Cosgrove obsessed with landscape. His instagram is one stunning or unique image after another from his travels across the country. In an essay for Appalachia, he once wrote: “Most of our acoustic clutter takes the form of thick and heavy drones: airplanes, interstates, appliances, engines, air conditioners, power lines, all hanging like a veil over the world’s beautifully various soundscapes.”

When listening to his new album, Solo Piano, which includes selections culled from his previous works of instrumental songs inspired by landscape, the clutter is pushed aside, leaving your ear more finely tuned to music and the world. Solo Piano was recorded in thirteen different states on Cosgrove’s seemingly neverending national tour. It would be wrong to say that Cosgrove captures the way these places look–that’s not right; it is more accurate that his music approximates the way these places feel if we would stop to take them in.

As I write this, I realize how little I know about the technical creation of music. It takes an instrumental album to show that to you sometimes. For those of us who spend most of our time listening to lyric-driven tunes, it is a humbling reminder just how much emotion can be conveyed without a word on a solo piano that is expertly played.

You can, and should, pick up Solo Piano here. Ben will be playing at The Lilypad on December 8 and a full slate of performances around the country can be seen here.