Buzz saw meditation, a hundred agitated zithers, a seismic hurdy gurdy, in three, roughly twenty-minute parts. It shimmers so, it rejoices prematurely, it turns back in upon itself with a certain melancholy.
The name conjures up visions of an overgrown temple, of abandoned, old gods, Nemoto Shinobu’s credo is that music “breathes life and death.” The dozens and dozens of releases (many on his own imprint, others strewn over the globe on e.g. Experimedia, Resting Bell, Organic Industries, Install, and other quality labels) are divided into three categories. Under his given name are experimental, electric or acoustic improvisations braided into field recordings; Dark Side of the Audio System is “an experiment with a broken recorder and tape loops”; and as Summons of Shining Ruins, he explores the possibilities of his guitar, magnetic tape and the inspiration an old melody or memory instills. His website is rife with sound samples and describes it all in detail.
“My guitar orchestration sound,” is Shinobu’s simple description of Haruka. The album is a bride dressed in white, everything perfectly white, disc, tray, inserts, except for the multicoloured crayon scrawls by UKKU, whomever he or she is, down the “skirt,” both front and back. And it is against a pristine background that Shinobu scrawls his guitar, clutching at clouds, geysers, ghosts, angels. “Haruka,” as far as I understand, means “far away.” Buzz saw meditation, a hundred agitated zithers, a seismic hurdy gurdy, in three, roughly twenty-minute parts. It shimmers so, it rejoices prematurely, it turns back in upon itself with a certain melancholy. It repeats a pattern over which an incorrigible optimism prevails. It holds, holds, holds… But is it ultimately just too far away?
Haruka is available on Moufon-Rokuon.
