Suicide By Sun is a fitting addition to Casino Versus Japan’s multitudinous body of work from the past two decades. The album possesses an atmospheric composure, made for reverb dreamers and dwellers of fortresses of solitude. Introspective, pillowy ambient with vast and sometimes dark sonicscapes, along with Casino Versus Japan’s expert implementation of delayed looping is sure to encompass the listener.
For an artist who has been exploring the depths of guitar-based drones and experimental electronic music since 1996, (with his first official release as Casino Versus Japan in 1998), Erik Kowalski has been a beloved and principal staple in the contemporary field of ambient music. Perfectly suited for passive listening, his work is as reflective in its nature as the emotional response it elicits for his audience.
His newest release the double LP Suicide By Sun is a fitting addition to his multitudinous body of work from the past two decades. The album possesses an atmospheric composure, made for reverb dreamers and dwellers of fortresses of solitude. Introspective, pillowy ambient with vast and sometimes dark sonicscapes, along with Casino Versus Japan’s expert implementation of delayed looping is sure to encompass the listener.
Suicide By Sun very much feels like a continuation in the direction Casino Versus Japan had embarked on his last behemoth of a release, Frozen Geometry in that there is an even more noticeable departure from the warped and grainy percussion of his earlier albums. In fact, Suicide by Sun is beat-less in the traditional sense, but not without pulse or movement.
Side A ends just as it begins, launching you directly into the middle of ambience. The starting point of both tracks “A1 Sunset Wake” and “A5 No Forgiveness for Grey Eyes” arrives as a piece already in progress. In between the two, “A3 Frost Nod” is a momentary and hauntingly beautiful guitar apparition leading into “A4 Deep In Black Night”s spectral noise and reverberations.
“B6 Death to the Fictitious Light Cycle” contains circulatory currents of echo that are simultaneously distant and profoundly deep in their presence. Tagged by “B7 The Dive,” a lo-fi sonic glimpse that calls to mind “I Love You” by Boards of Canada. “B8 Led Away” is sun drenched and features a prominent repetitive zap, a view from the top of the first peak so-to-speak.
Sides C & D are just as engaging commencing with the ominous “C11 Pretty Rare Nowhere” and the contemplative “C12 Goodbye Sinister Clouds.” Side D is a guitar haven with celestial slow walks and mid-air suspension for the heart. “D21 Backspacing” is a favorite, titled as if to say “all of these deep and nebulous thoughts, I take it all back.”
With compositions varying in duration, Casino Versus Japan demonstrates that a lot of ground can be covered in even a short amount of time, with the shortest tracks feeling just as impactful as the longer cuts. The music is fluid and expansive with swells that cascade into each other while droning onward. They’re all chapters in the same story and perfectly mastered to match. With Suicide By Sun,Casino Versus Japan proves himself once again to be a favorite passage you want read over and over again, a dog eared page you turn back to, or in this case the music you come across and realize you’ve already saved it to your playlist because it makes you think, feel, and speaks to you in a considerable way.
Suicide By Sun is available on Bandcamp.
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