Review of Akari [12k1080]

Vital Weekly (NL)

The other new release by 12K is the third album of Illuha, the duo of Corey Fuller and Tomoyoshi Date, following ‘Shizuku’ (Vital Weekly 801) and ‘Interstices’ (Vital Weekly 886). Date we also know from his work with Opitope (recently had a new CD out) and Fuller from his work by Dragon’s Eye. This new album was recorded in their home base in Tokyo, with a whole bunch of stuff, such as analog electronics and treatments, Mini Moog, Memory Moog, Prophet 08, Pro One, Six-Trak, Nord Lead, DX-7, Blofeld, OP-1, Grand Piano, Rhodes, Pianet, Wurlitzer, prepared and hammered piano, pump organ, acoustic and electric guitars, upright bass, vibraphone, drums, percussion, field recordings, found objects, cassette tapes and reel to reel tapes. Phew. That must be one hell of a studio, I was thinking. ‘Akari’ means ‘light’ in Japanese and that is surely something to jeep in mind when playing this music. It’s delicate, vulnerable music, yet not ’empty’. Take for instance the seventeen-minute opening piece ‘Diagrams Of The Physical Interpretation Of Resonance’ (all five pieces have these Alvin Lucier like titles) which seem to contain all of these instruments, not at the same time, but carefully placed over time on a multi-track, popping up, disappearing. It’s not an album of one drone per piece and that’s it. There are a lot of small events happening in each of these pieces. Delicate and vulnerable, but I may have used those words already. Very rich music, thanks to all of these instruments – many of which are from an electronic nature, which is great, I think. Many of the current releases on 12K deal with (seem to deal with) acoustic sounds, but here we have a lot of electronics, not hidden away, but out in the open, making a great interplay with the acoustic instruments. Illuha play their music rather open and free, almost, it seems, improvised but going through various stages to get there, adding sounds to the tape. Quite a unique way of working, I should think. I think this is their strongest work to date. (FdW)

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