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SPEAKER: Australian musician, Ben Frost, likes challenging music, challenging for his listeners and for him. His roots are in punk and heavy metal, yet he writes for orchestras and contemporary dance companies. Euan Kerr reports this weekend-- Frost brings his latest work to the Amsterdam bar in Saint Paul as part of the Liquid Music Series.

EUAN KERR: Ben Frost lives and works in Iceland. It suits his temperament and his music.

BEN FROST: Fundamentally, I'm just interested in extremes.

EUAN KERR: And what pours forth from this soft-spoken composer can be extreme. It ranges from quiet, contemplative passages of guitar and keyboards to soaring cascades of sound, which are felt as much as heard.

[DISTORTED MUSIC]

Heard in small doses, Frost music can be disturbing, jarring even. But in their entirety, his pieces become almost hypnotic and draw in listeners. Frost is coming to Saint Paul as part of the Liquid Music Series, sponsored by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Walker Art Center. Series curator, Kate Nordstrum, says it's intended to highlight the work of new composers. She worked with Frost when she ran the music program at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis.

KATE NORDSTRUM: Truthfully, when I first considered presenting Ben Frost about three years back, the descriptions of his music frightened me.

EUAN KERR: She'd heard words like violent and threatening. But she says sitting down and listening to Frost play proved a very different experience.

KATE NORDSTRUM: Words like that really don't do his music justice, and they're too confining. They only describe moments within his works.

EUAN KERR: Listening to Ben Frost is a visceral, emotional experience. His pieces build to all-consuming crescendos, and then ebb to intricately detailed solos. There are even wolves in the mix.

[WOLVES GROWLING]

Speaking from his studio in Reykjavik, Frost says he's always looking for something new.

BEN FROST: I suppose I'm just-- I'm less and less concerned with what's going on around me musically, and far more concerned with pushing beyond my own limits, I suppose, or my own abilities.

EUAN KERR: You could say Ben Frost plays guitar and keyboards, but that would be simplistic. He uses an array of computers and Effects boxes to coax new sounds from his instruments and those of his bandmates. Some sound almost like malfunctions. But if you listen carefully, it's clear they're part of the composition.

Frost is often very impatient with himself. He wants to move into the future as quickly as he can.

BEN FROST: The question I'm asking myself constantly is, what do I want my music to be 50 years from now? And I want to do that now. I want that result earlier.

EUAN KERR: If that sounds difficult, it is. He's recording a new album to be released in the fall. It's much different from what fans have heard so far. Working with two drummers, he's limited himself as to what he can play.

BEN FROST: There's no guitar. There's no piano. There's no strings. There's no acoustic instruments, really, of any kind.

EUAN KERR: Saturday night's Saint Paul concert will be one of the first places Frost presents the new music live. It's still very raw to him.

BEN FROST: It's also very uncomfortable to me, and I really like that a lot.

EUAN KERR: The work is so new. Not even Kate Nordstrum has heard it. She again admits to some nervousness.

KATE NORDSTRUM: But I trust that it will be exciting. And I trust that it'll be moving and will be interesting.

EUAN KERR: She's clearly not alone. Saturday night's concert is sold out, although there will be some standing room tickets available at the door. Euan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio News.

[MUSIC PLAYING]