Chihei Hatakeyama is a Tokyo sound artist whose past credits include a sweet album for Kranky and now Room 40 are pleased, no doubt, to be curating his new collection, 'Saunter'. We were discussing this morning why drone/post ambient music is so damn popular at the moment with many musicians being particularly prolific in the field. I have many theories being a learned man & practitioner of exaggerated, tasteless waffle. Theory 1 - everyone hates British Guitar bands because American ones are so much cooler & don't look as muppet-y than their Brit NME boyband compatriots. The only way to remain cool & aloof is to immerse yourself in something more spiritual & esoteric. Theory 2 - people like monging out to elongated tones & sustained notes because they're all drugged up fuckweasels. Theory 3 - many musicians have become incredibly lazy or just listen to everything Brian Eno says. Theory 4 - this music is perfect to escape from the gruelling onslaught of todays testing, cluttered, over stimulated, hectic, rat-race times. This CD is a blissful, moving body of work that'll appeal to the more discerning Stars of the Lid/Infraction/Kranky devotee. 6 tracks of yearning, morphing, shimmering waves of heavenly drone, driftscape construction & found sound cascading all over your tired brain. Loving this stuff loads these days and this is another treasure to add to my gatherings thus far.....
Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.
Sound clips for Saunter by Chihei Hatakeyama: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, Room 40, RM432, £10.99.
Tokyo based musician and composer Chihei Hatakeyama has been in a state
of transit. Moving to a new home in recent months, he has found a
heightened awareness of his surroundings. The clarity of new encounters
with unfamiliar spaces and the sharpness of experience that follows,
has become the musical starting point for his latest long player
Saunter.
Saunter is in some ways an auditory
interpretation of the monochromatic Chinese painting style ‘Sansui-Ga’.
An approach concerned with the themes of landscape, ‘Sansui-Ga’ seeks
to express a sense of philosophical consideration for the form and
shape.
Saunter follows this approach, casting out lush layers of texture that
seem to sound out the edges of landscape. The sounds dynamic
fluctuations suggesting structures, trees, fields and other aspects
dotting the landscape in which Hatakeyama finds himself.
Focused particularly on the transition from Fall to Winter, this record
is a graceful and considered work. Elegantly crafted with an attention
to subtle melodic variation and harmonic richness Saunter is a
‘visionary’ collection from one of Japan’s finest composers.
