Mighty Joe Belson’s “The Process of Individuation” is quite a cut. There’s certainly not too many other tracks out there that are reminiscent of it, or which attempt to mimic its trajectory, which is more than merely refreshing.

Adorned with just an acoustic piano and a smattering of what could be synths, the simplicity of the number is readily apparent. Moreover, it’s built around a progression of chords that are basic, yet fitted with a dissonant quality in parts that gives them a character and vibrancy that does the song justice. With plenty of space and silence between them, they conjure up quiet, lonely afternoons of staring into space, the sun’s brilliance obscured behind a not entirely disagreeable array of clouds graying the darkened streets, dusty plains, or whatever one’s surroundings are at the moment.

Slowly, every so slowly, the tune begins to build momentum, initially with a scattered helping of notes between the piano chords, which appear to be soft footsteps guiding the listener between one and the other of them. The headiness of the number pauses, pregnant with pent-up emotion, as you gradually get the feeling that you’re being watched or, rather, that there’s another instrument gracing the sonic landscape.

That would be the aforementioned synths, which play the background handily, adding a dimension of daylight, a silent parting of the clouds in which streaks of saffron brighten the tune, pointing at where in the clouds to stare. As if on cue, the notes in between the chords become prettier, shimmering and adding to the dynamics of the chords. The swell of feeling, heretofore latent and implied, becomes palpable: the rising action of the track (not to mix metaphors) changes the tone and quality of the very day it aspires to be.

The synths themselves are elongated and low key, the merest modicum of tension to be found in a number gaining ground, and conviction, with each rhythmic pulsing of the piano’s chords. It’s a gradual, subtle progression, the type that’s almost indiscernible, yet nevertheless the central theme to the work, and one worth remembering, too.