Tomas Phillips + Marihiko Hara

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4...according to our Ant on Thu 04 Nov, 2010.

This is the second release on the Tench label following the excellent disc from M.Ostermeier. 'Prosa' is an electronic/ acoustic transcontinental collaboration which was created exchanging sounds through the post. There are two parts, Prosa I and Prosa II and those are then indexed into individual segments. The first of which is extremely spacious with moody piano keys slowly building until eventually becoming processed and then some very sparce electronics are added to augment the natural sound of the keys. Things really get going during the second chapter with a variety of modes being explored, from ambient to modern classical. There's certainly an affinity with the experimental electronic and acousmatic sounds of the 12k label. A most pleasant ear soothing album.

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Prosa marks the first collaboration between Marihiko Hara and Tomas Phillips.

Utilizing a diverse range of instrumentation, both electronic and acoustic, Prosa is as still as it is dynamic. Its formation (a transcontinental process, through the post) was an exercise of patience and concerted application alike. Thematically (but indirectly), Prosa shares a space with writers whose palette wavers between existential crisis, awkward distance, and snapshots of emotional expenditure (e.g. Jean-Philippe Toussaint) and with certain "quiet" descriptions found in classical Japanese literature. Phillips and Hara’s mutual effort to treat sounds as words, and otherwise abstract music as narrative yields a composition that can be viewed as a whole or digested in chapters. The duo’s confident choice to display sentimentality alongside a detached abstraction (thus referencing the sensibilities of such labels as 12k, Raster-Noton, and 4AD) makes for a captivating listen that will appeal to fans of modern classical, electronic and acoustic experimentation, and contemporary ambient.

Tomas Phillips is a composer, novelist, and teacher whose sound work focuses on improvisational performance and minimalist through-composition. He began composing electronic music in the early 1990s and has since created music for installations and collaborations in dance and theatre. He lives in the US, where he teaches literature at North Carolina State University.

Marihiko Hara is a composer residing in Kyoto, Japan and a representative of the artist collective, Rimacona-lab. He composes self-reflective music that explores our relationship with sound and values the strength of silence. Marihiko is a member of Rimacona, a pop group with female vocalist Natsuko Yanagimoto.

Tracklisting:

Prosa I i       (5.23)
Prosa I ii      (8.42)
Prosa II i              (5.36)
Prosa II ii     (4.06)
Prosa II iii    (3.56)
Prosa II iv     (4.05)
Prosa II v      (3.09)
Prosa II vi     (2.34)

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