Akhira Sano :: Fading (ato.archives)

Akhira Sano transforms a soon-to-be-demolished family home into a fragile, room-by-room sound diary, shaping its creaks, air, and fading resonance into an intimate work of environmental memory.

Architectural echoes, intimate sonic diary

For Fading, the newest album by Akhira Sano, recordings were made at an actual family home, in the entrance, living room, kitchen, bedroom, and in two rooms on the second floor, using a Tascam DR-07X. During the making of these field recordings, the compositions were produced using the range of equipment the composer typically employs in their studio practice. The sounds heard are room sounds and improvised minimal instrumentation, exploring the moment in this special place, an adventure in performing environmental music created with the sounds and spatial characteristics of architectural structures or materials in the process of disappearance. Akhira Sano shares that, “The project began with the intention of documenting my grandparents’ house—soon to be demolished—as a formative personal memory, and of transforming the “spatial sound” of a place destined to vanish into a work of art.”

What I hear are careful abstract performances as well as open space, odd ambient soundscapes combining electronics with recording arts. Some things might be backwards, there are fabulous granular details. It sounds at times like there is a keyboard, an exotic stringed instrument, and things to tap on, the mood is always like time travel, a dreamy drifty out-of-body soundtrack, sometimes a drone harmonica playing one long soulful note, at other moments a collection of interesting repeating sample fragments, exploited glitches and extended textures. Perhaps there is no beat or percussive pattern but there are musical episodes with a tempo.

There is no pulse that is going to push anyone around, there is a series of strange sounds to listen to. Things start off low and slow, an auspicious opening track, setting a strange trajectory. There are things to hear that might not be music, but who knows. Sounds of memories of physical places and things. Sometimes the activity fades then gets stronger, then fades. “Entrance” (7:18) starts with warm buzzy low tones joined by bumps and ticks, later it sounds like something made of metal is being coaxed of soundings.

Home memories rendered in sound ::

Now for the “Living Room” (3:58), starting off nicely quiet, some crunch then the door squeaks, maybe some tapping on a marimba-like instrument, flickering and bobbing on the surface of the calm waters. I think I hear prepared piano ghosts shadowing on the wall and ceiling, long sustained tones with fluttery activity in the glitchy dreamy background as we listen. In the “Kitchen” (4:04) the mood is dark, with vague bumping activity, and a bit of reverb, some slow paced random clanking, the one note harmonica drone blends with chimes, some sleepy drones (I think of kitchens as busy places), at the end there might be a train or subway. Tucked into the “Bedroom, Study” (5:15) with a tad more atmospheric reverb than before, are we deep underwater maybe? Dark slow mysterious activity bumping or adjusting objects, some rare tones ringing slowly, some click-like sounds, some more new mysterious activities.

Upstairs, “2nd Floor 1” (6:07), there is a piano, I could be wrong about that, there could be a harmonica that plays one tone like a drone, and cool glitchy metal tapping sounds. Extended long endings are part of the genre, thus the album title is quite apt. “2nd Floor 2” (2:43) brings a climactic drifty dreamy glitchy glory, and is the shortest track. This could be the natural trance mix “bullet” on the album.

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Fading is available on ato.archives. [Bandcamp]