Bearsuit Records continue to release music that's decidedly - and distinctly - offbeat and unusual with this offering, a collaboration between Harold Nono and Hidekazu Wakabayashi (as the title rather implies). Wakabayashi is a Japanese composer, who I read 'belongs to a new generation of Japanese musicians that have returned to acoustic music', while the musical roots of Edinburgh-based Nono lie in playing guitar in various indie/punk bands before going solo.
There's little indie or punk about this, though I do suspect that these contrasting perspectives proved integral to the formation of the eleven tracks here. Some dark and mildly eerie ambience - but not so dark as to enter the territory of the nasty or abrasive - frames what is, quite often, a truly beautiful instrumental album.
The gentle chimes of 'Teenage Desk' or the almost whimsical lightness of 'Let's Go Find Mushrooms' (complete with smurf or gnome-like vocals skipping through the sonic meadow) are pleasant without being sickly or twee. 'Akaruri Akari' does wander into the field of muzak just a little more than is entirely cool, but it's a rare digression, and elsewhere Wakabayashi's favoured acoustic instrumentation takes priority over electronic manipulations and studio wizardry, with sedate and soothing pianos roaming the aural plains.
|
'Nice' and 'pleasant' are generally considered mediocre, nondescript words, but are entirely applicable to this album, and without any negative connotations intended. Nice indeed.
http://www.myspace.com/bearsuitrecords
|
