Harmonious Bec - Her Strange Dreams

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5...according to our Brian on Thu 11 Nov, 2010.

Now Monotreme is a label close to our heart. Unfortunately, we often get their releases late on a Friday due to the distributor being a tiny bit demented. But this one's managed to arrive here mid-week & Kim, the proud proprietor saw fit to get a promo to us, so we can actually review the thing. Think the press on this is fairly accurate, I'm getting exposed to some wild, chirruping electronics ala early Mum, funky hip-hop beats, breezy, evocative synth-scapes, neo-classical flutterings and a spot of stomping drum 'n' bass action that sounds like a Moving Shadow tribute to Four Tet. One track 'Cryptomeria Rain' is particularly beautiful - relatively hushed but propulsive jazzy drums, & an outstandingly ecstatic piano refrain that suddenly dips into ambience & a recording of an increasingly volatile rain downpour. "Her Strange Dreams" has a great deal to offer. It works on many levels, a dreamy odyssey, a reflective beat-led electronica outing and a jazzy instrumental hip-hop album ala 'Duration' by Sixtoo. Sometimes downtempo, occasionally experimental & often insanely perky! The flow of this album is quite riveting, you cannot turn it off in case another sudden passage of wonder & delight should caress your ears. These two Japanese lads done good!!

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Japanese duo ‘ZaMaRoo’ and ‘from Vapor To Water’ debut with their dazzling dreamscape of intriguing, eclectic electronica. RIYL: DJ Shadow, Múm, BoC, Clouddead, FourTet ,The Books. Harmonious bec is the Japanese duo ‘ZaMaRoo’ and ‘from Vapor To Water’, covert composers of intriguing, eclectic electronica. Their debut album, ‘Her Strange Dreams’, is released in November on Monotreme Records. Guest artists on the album include ‘Mizube’ and ‘1968’. You lift the handle and climb into ‘Giantland’. As it pulls away a succession of detonations go off behind your eyes and a smeary opiate warmth fires up at your centre. Where were you going? You tap on the glass and pull out your phrasebook but it’s already in flames. The dazzling crossbeams of ‘Progress’ hypnotize you out of the taxi and send you stumbling across four lanes of traffic. You’re in ‘Asahigaoka’: a sleepy-eyed, low-cut piano ushers you into a gin palace, spikes you then robs you blind. Then ‘Solitary Bonze Prayer’, the broken hip-hop hymnal, blows incense in your face and strong-arms you to an inside-out temple. Bewildered, you hear the spectral voice of the “Arms Girl” calling to you from a well; there’s nothing down there but a face full of firecrackers. Eyebrows singed and ears ringing, you come to ‘In The Bright Oval’: a dying arcade, every machine manned by translucent insects. You pat your empty pockets. Now you’re reeling home - in ‘Falling Ash Plume’, you walk through a water garden and find glowing alien metal in the hollow of a tree; at ‘Planet S’ you meet a crossroads and a Martian carnival passes then proceeds into the ground. ‘Her Strange Dreams’ will drop you off at your doorstep with your chakras re-aligned and your eyes watering. Now where’s your damn key? RIYL: DJ Shadow, Boards of Canada, Múm, Luke Vibert/Wagon Christ , Clouddead, Max Tundra, The Books, FourTet, Radiohead. The track “Solitary Bonze Prayer” appears on the ‘Wire Tapper 24’ CD included in the October 2010 issue of The Wire Magazine.

Tracklisting:

1. Giantland 2. Funny Hierophant 3. In The Bright Oval 4. Shunrai 5. Progress 6. Cryptomeria Rain 7. Falling Ash Plume 8. PlanetS 9. Arms Girl 10. Solitary Bonze Prayer 11. Asahigaoka

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