Chihei Hatakeyama + Asuna - Scale Compositions (CD)

This is Chihei’s second release on Home Normal after a bunch of releases on labels like Kranky, Hibernate, Room 40, Under The Spire, Soundscaping etc...and on this one he’s accompanied by Asuna who’s been on labels like Students of Decay, Spekk, Senufo, Lucky Kitchen etc... all good so far!

Both artists inhabit the world of drone and here they collide in a thunderously minimal fashion. Scale Compositions is two tracks long spread over 40 minutes of joyous droney loveliness. ‘Crown Scales’ is an intense 24-minute drone piece which for the first 12 minutes or so just pulses and throbs intensely before it starts to mellow out into a floatier drone and before you know it the 24 minutes is up and you’re thrust into a world of space noises.

‘Folk Scales’ is also a drone piece albeit a wee bit shorter at a paltry 16 minutes long. This is a more toney sounding affair and it’s altogether less fluffy than ‘Crown Scales’. It’s verging on the paranoid sounding and personally I think it’s a much more interesting listen than the other track. The tones and sounds they’ve created are interesting, all consuming and very occasionally a little bit shrill. I like that though as I’m slightly hungover today and it’s testing me. A thoroughly interesting and experimental drone album!