Haruki - Falling

Here we have a disc on Ian Hawgood's new(ish) imprint Nomadic Kids Republic, an offshoot of his Home Normal label which is/was responsible for some very high quality releases. Personally I've very much enjoyed the Offthesky and bvdub & Ian Hawgood CDs on the label so getting this in my review pile is more than fine by me. Haruki has previously released on Hibernate and The Land Of and is the alias of Boris Snauwaert. The disc opens with 'Shrinking Of Cities' which builds from found sounds/field recordings through to sinister piano hits which really get some tension in the air. There are distant scraping sounds and creaks which make the overall mood very mysterious and then tweeting birds and the sounds of stomping feet build an entirely different imaginary picture. Where am I???? That's a question that is posed throughout the blend of processed acoustic sounds and for that reason the album is most intriguing. There is a narrative here but I prefer to discover it for myself rather than read the press release, which would be a spoiler. The percussive twitches of 'When To Stumble and When To Fall' offer a hint of things getting very intense but are restrained which in turn makes things even more tense yet inviting. 'A Little Bear Voice' is almost like a question and answer session between the dramatic bass throb and various other sounds. Sometimes there is no or little response which I like a lot. 'So Now We're Even' is less minimal in its execution than previous tracks... Back on task and closer 'Tall As Tails' sets off on its journey of just over eleven minutes and is quite the cerebral highlight of the album. Working layered tones and drones into a throbbing head-melter which occasionally becomes punctured by the odd clank or ticking, swooping sound which ultimately envelopes the listener into this almost tangible world.