In the early 1980s, there was a shortwave radio enthusiast named Jonas Fetzler. Like many other hobbyists, he would scan the frequencies to find the most unusual sounds on the dial. One night, he came upon a series of beeps that reminded him of morse code, though at a more disjointed pace than usual. He listened for awhile and thought it was curious that the sound never seemed to follow any consistent pattern, and he wondered what the origin and purpose of it was.
The following night, Jonas found the sound again. After listening awhile, he noted that there was no other broadcast on this frequency other than the jagged, rhythmic beeps. There was never anyone talking, neither about the sound or what it meant, nor was any other type of sound ever played during the time that he listened. He found it interesting enough that he decided to record some of it on his reel-to-reel machine in case it wasn’t there the next time he tuned in.
Days later, Jonas tuned to that frequency again, and as he prepared for, the sound was no longer there. He checked again over the coming days but that particular frequency was always silent. So, he went back to his tape and listened to the recording he had made instead. While listening to the odd beeps, he tried to distinguish some kind of pattern or logic to them, but he couldn’t recognize any. Per his notes, when it came to the end of the recording, he hit rewind on the tape machine, and it was while the sound played backward that he experienced something notable.
Coincidentally, around this time, there were occasional news reports involving “backward messages” in rock music. The idea was that bands would write lyrics that sounded vaguely like dubious statements when played backwards. Though these statements couldn’t be deciphered while playing them forwards, the messages would enter the listener’s subconscious, potentially influencing them.
According to Jonas’ early notes, while there was no discernible message in the backward playing of his recording, he felt that there was “something going on.” He described the backward sound as, or, more “like the feeling of,” a faint individual voice. Jonas noted that he had to play the tape backwards repeatedly to make sure he wasn’t imagining this. Once clarified, he became obsessed with deciphering exactly what was going on, and if it was indeed a voice he was hearing, what it might be saying.
After many listens, Jonas believed that the sound operated within some kind of system, and after weeks of pursuing his hunches, theories and methods, he surmised that there was indeed a message within it. Though he still wasn’t sure what it was, he was determined to figure it out. As he began to put the pieces together, whether imagined or true, something eventually caused him to stop. Or, at least his notes did. Left at the end of his final working document was the statement,
“Never have I been so close to something in my life.”
Did this mean that Jonas was close to figuring something out? Or did he simply feel a kind of personal proximity to something? Unfortunately, no one will ever know.
According to Jonas’ family members, it is said that around the time of his final notes, he seemed to withdraw from other social activities, family gatherings, etc., and began pursuing a kind of visual art, which he never expressed any interest in before. His craft was simple paper collages; primitive assemblages of different colored paper, crudely stapled or taped together without any real sense of design or artistic direction. He amassed hundreds of these pieces while isolating himself further and further from any socializing.
When Jonas passed away, the younger family members who were handling his estate had these pieces examined by an art gallery, but they were of such low artistic quality that the gallery wasn’t even sure if their intention was art. And so, they were recycled.
To date, outside of the scant notes Jonas left, no one knows exactly what message he heard, or thought he heard, but with the help of various rare book libraries throughout the United States, Rhythmplex gained access to all of the information and references in his notes.
To the best of our ability, we’ve transposed his theories about the message within the strange system of beeps into a reverse score, a potential mirror of the messaging, in a hopeful attempt to send the energy that was seemingly taken from Jonas back to each listener.
While tests have shown some positive results, we are not exactly sure of the benefit, or of any other potential effect, that might be instigated by listening to these recordings. We simply suggest playing them loudly, and if you listen carefully, you just might hear, or rather, feel, a faint individual voice.
Please enjoy Energy Rippers by FRIEND LESS.