Chihei Hatakeyama - Minima Moralia
Chihei Hatakeyama evokes a purity of sound on Minima Moralia, his first release for Kranky. In keeping with the label's recent trend towards drones and minimalism, Hatakeyama's record is a series of velvety sonic landscapes, broad washes of processed tones and elongated chimes. Sourced from guitar and vibraphone, the music is stretched flat via laptop processing and then spread out until it is so thin that it becomes vaporous.
"Bonfire on the Field," at over eight minutes in length, spends more than six of that simply rising from silence. Only in the last two minutes does a light rustling of sound creep out of the drone tone as if a slow dawn has finally cast enough light on a field to warm a dead fire. Hatakeyama's titles, in a manner unusual these days in electronic music, actually evoke a sense of the music. "Swaying Curtain in the Window," filled with diaphanous tones, twinkles with tiny motes of melody like sunlight winking through the gentle motion of a curtain. As more of a breeze kicks up the curtain, the melodies become more realized, transforming from light vibraphone notes to flowing runs on an acoustic guitar. "Sunlight Reflecting On The Surface Of The River" is dappled with tiny reverb, miniscule elements of back-masking and hitched glitch that echo across the sparkling tones.
"Towards a Tranquil Marsh" clicks with the circadian buzz of small insects and glittering lightning bugs before the tones evolve into melodies of guitar and violin; while "Granular Haze" undulates like a ribbon of smoke through a crisp winter sky where it chases distant chimes and is, in turn, pursued by the soft rumble of atmospheric pressure ridges. "Inside Of The Pocket" is a more personalized rendition of "Towards a Tranquil Marsh." Guitar and violin work together again but the gritty noises and hiss of animal life is more immediate. It is only in "Beside A Well" that Hatakeyama ventures into static and detritus as his long waves disintegrate into hissing noise.
I may have poor acoustics or just crappy speakers on the home system, but Minima Moralia didn't really move me until I listened to it on headphones. In an isolated environment, the sonic depths opened up and the ambience became pervasive and enfolding. Hatakeyama's efforts came alive when I fell into them. They are spaces where I drifted quite happily.
Chihei Hatakeyama
Kranky [2006]
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