When Sproton Layer (Ben, Laurence, and Roger Miller) disbanded in fall of 1970, Ben Miller began

performing material that would later become part of the repertoire when the brothers regrouped in

1971, though without vocals.

 

After the Sproton Layer Reunion in 2013, World in Sound asked Ben to record a psychedelic LP for the label. The following year Laurence Miller agreed to join the project, assessing a selection of songs they had written during this early 70s time period.

 

As the recording process unfolded, World in Sound did not continue to participate in the recording. In 2026, Galavan by Exploded View (Ben and Laurence Miller) will finally get released on 2182. 

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All records have a story and this one is enhanced by the fact that it took decades to record, but a direct line can be drawn from Ben, Laurence, and Roger's work through to the sound of experimentation today, yet, in this case, the listener is hearing a record that was written by the Miller's as young upstarts, but it wasn't recorded until the next generation was already using the trail they cut. 

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It does feel a little bit like being let in on a secret. It took more than fifty years for this record to get released. This makes Galavan difficult to put into context, but once you are familiar with Ben and Laurence's work a pattern emerges that is hedonistically wrestling with composition and consciousness. 

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Video: Small Bits of Mad Drink

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Galavan is certainly psychedelic and the songwriting is meant to create ear-worms, or perhaps -- Brain Pockets that revel in the accessibility of a well-crafted song. It is not terrain we are familiar with experimentalists treading, but then again, there are few individuals, much less families, that have remained dedicated to sound in all of its forms. 

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In 2025, 2182 released Porcelain Hammer's second recording Born For Years and in 2026 and 2027 there are additional releases planned from Empool (Ben and Laurence Miller), Sensorium Saxophone Orchestra (Ben Miller), as well as a solo release from Laurence.

 

Sproton Layer, Destroy All Monsters, Fourth World Quartet, M-3 ... not to mention all the groups that result ... Ben and Laurence Miller are still aggressively forging a new path that 2182 hopes to continue to support for a long time into the future. 

 “Old enough to have first-hand experience with rock’s late ’60s breakthroughs (and in close proximity to burgeoning Detroit), the Miller brothers lost interest in the (rock) genre as it took a creative nosedive in the years before punk’s upheaval. Rather than rocking out, the focus is on experimentation, incorporating elements of avant-jazz (the influence of Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor is audible) and Contemporary Classical/ New Music (curious minds enlivened by the possibilities of Stockhausen; notably, all four members are credited as composers) with free improvisation part of the scheme. Similar to the belatedly released work of Sproton Layer (the Millers’ late ’60s-early ’70s psych-rock band), it’s striking how legitimately worthwhile (as opposed to just retrospectively interesting) The Fourth World Quartet’s music is. 45 years later, The Fourth World Quartet remains at the forefront.”  — write-up for Fourth World Quartet release on Cuneiform Records

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“We still called it Sproton Layer, I think, and rehearsed four or five instrumentals that were unfortunately never recorded. ‘Speedway’ and ‘Acid Jungle’ were two I wrote. ‘Acid Jungle’ was recorded by Exploded View with Laurence and myself in 2015—retitled as ‘Triton.’ This second incarnation of Sproton Layer performed at a couple of parties. The late Bill Gracie asked to play drums after we did a set, and out of that experience, Cerberus was born."  — Ben Miller on the writing of material around the reforming of Sproton Layer in 1971 (from The Miller Brothers: Blurring The Lines by Klemen Breznikar in It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine).

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