The TANK: a Rangely water tank that sings

Just outside Rangely, in the dry country of Rio Blanco County, there is a seven-story steel water tank that people travel a very long way to sing inside.

It was never meant to make music. The tank was built decades ago as a railroad water-treatment vessel, then hauled to Rangely in the 1960s. Set on a bed of gravel, its own weight bowed the floor into a gentle curve. That left it useless for holding water, but the warped floor and tall, rounded ceiling turned the inside into a natural echo chamber. A sound artist named Bruce Odland wandered in during the 1970s and never quite got over how long a single note would hang in the air, swirling and slow to fade. The TANK now calls itself “Colorado’s Taj Mahal, but with better reverb.”

In 2012, the owner considered selling it for scrap. A group of supporters formed a nonprofit instead, raised the money to save it, and reopened it as the TANK Center for Sonic Arts. Today composers, choirs, and recording engineers book time to work inside that strange, ringing space.

Visits and recording sessions are by reservation, generally during the warmer months. If a building that holds a note longer than you’d believe sounds worth the drive, start at tanksounds.org.