Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen

with "insen", alva noto (aka carsten nicolai) and ryuichi sakamoto continue their collaboration which started with "vrioon". The debut album released on raster-noton in 2003 was voted record of the year 2004 in the electronica category by british magazine "the wire". particular interest was shown in nicolai’s creation towards a new synergy of acoustic piano and digital post production that had not witnessed before, in his approach and interpretation of sakamoto’s piano clusters. the strict splitting of the composition process on this record (piano: sakamoto; production and additional sounds: nicolai) reminds one of the debut album. however, "insen" carries a kind of "transcendental aura" of an early morning meditatory exercise ­ but at the same time avoiding the field of new age philosophy. enriched by new elements, this "high-tech meditation" follows a consistent line. on "vrioon", nicolai’s typical sinus sounds counterbalanced sakamoto’s piano accords. now, on "insen" nicolai works directly with the piano sounds. he dismantles sakamoto’s recordings with a "surgeon-like precision" into micro loops, into its atomic elements. starting with these atoms of sound, he creates a new basis for form, compressing floating rotating rhythm with harmonic sequences, with melodic counterpoints, and laying it underneath the piano tracks. this makes "insen" appear more of a complex experience, although the time-stretched flow, or even the clear lines of the piano stay untouched. from the sleeve notes one can learn that the album was a dedication to a certain people. created far away from these people, "insen" might be a kind of dialogue. It definitely represents a diary of a stay over several month at leon feuchtwanger’s "villa aurora", where a large part of the production as well as the final mixes were completed. the themes and the track titles directly refer to that place, to the times of the day, and the events there. even the colours of the album cover associate the emotions and atmosphere experienced at "villa aurora". only the track "berlin" was recorded later, with nicolai and sakamoto together, during a session at nicolai’s studio in berlin. as a reference to that place, one can hear a flock of birds singing in the background of the recording. "aveol" closes the album also seen as a diary, with a mysterious beauty. the evolution of piano recording and digital post production were pushed the furthest on this track. the combination reached its (temporary) final point.

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