Hudson River Wind Meditations is Lou Reed's most experimental and silent album: four long ambient music pieces composed for the meditative practice of tai chi and yoga. Published by Sounds True, a label specializing in music and spirituality, the record completely abandons rock to explore sound as a tool for contemplation and well-being.
Reed composed the pieces using layers of guitars and synthesizers reduced to their most essential elements, creating atmospheres that evoke the sound of the Hudson River and the movement of air. The album is a coherent extension of the sonic explorations that began with Metal Machine Music, but this time oriented toward calm rather than chaos.
Hudson River Wind Meditations was received with curiosity and respect: it demonstrated that Reed could encompass the entire spectrum from the most extreme noise to the most contemplative silence. It is the testimony of an artist who never stopped exploring the limits of what music can be and do.