Album: Exemption from Meaning
Artist: Toshimaru Nakamura, Dafydd Roberts, Angharad
Davies, Rhodri Davies, Andrew Leslie Hooker
Label: Listen to the Voice of Fire
Catalogue no: N/A
Tracklist:
1. Katsue
Ibata_c1244 (an excerpt)
2. Pilgrim_c843
3. Ryoji
Koie_1243
This album was sent to me
by fellow Welshman Dafydd Roberts, and plants the flag for unabashed
experimentalism and improvisation in the heart of Wales. These three
compositions have been inspired by examples of Japanese ceramics held in the
University of Wales in Aberystwyth, and were performed and recorded at the
Listen to the Fire Festival of improvised and experimental music. This was also
Toshimaru Nakamura’s first performance in Wales, and he was rewarded with a
sold-out concert. All of these pieces were direct responses to the objects in
question, using no-input mixing boards, prepared harp, violin, and modular
synth.
As can probably be
gathered, this is recorded live and in the moment. As such, we’re presented
with noise cut-ups (as well as pure noise), snatches of familiar sounds and
instruments, brutal mutations of treated sonics, hybrid mash-ups of tortured
electronics, and abrasive modulations. Improvised experimentalism is a
difficult genre to approach but the album title, I feel, holds a clue as to how
to approach this: all three pieces are indeed exempt from meaning, insofar as it
seeks an answer to the question why do we need to invest everything with
meaning in the first place? It’s a peculiar weakness of mankind as a species
that we can only quantify things if
they have meaning – is it merely in order to understand what’s being said or
has it got something to do with notions of perceived
value? I lean to the latter, as we also have the habit of judging things
according to how much value we place on them. This depends on whether they
match our aesthetics and understanding. Who’s to say that noise, pure and
simple, has its own message to convey? In the final analysis, though, all
things are exempt from meaning until
the individual creates it. Bearing that in mind, the following thoughts are
nothing more than a series of necessarily broad responses and impressions of
this music whilst listening to it a second time.
I’ve always believed that
capturing the essence of any particular piece of art (or ceramic objects, as in
this case) is ultimately impossible. When we attempt to do so, there’s a sense
that we’re essentially grasping at ephemeral ideas and notions, intangibles
that only really existed in the mind of the artist. Here, my own impression is
that that struggle to understand (and that internal conflict) is a necessary
part of art and its creation. For me this is reflected in part in the transient
and ephemeral nature of some of the elements that make up each piece –
sometimes the introduced noises are just brief flashes, lasting mere seconds.
Background whines, whistles, and slabs of static, whilst providing a sense of
appropriate solidity (just as the objects themselves are still in existence
after hundreds of years), serve as mirrors upon which our own interpretations
are reflected. Concepts, hypotheses, and conclusions abound: five musicians,
each with individual responses, collaborating to produce a single
three-dimensional approximation. Bear in mind, too, that having survived for so
long these objects have themselves seen and absorbed much history, meaning they
have so many stories of their own to tell. In some respects, the fleeting and
momentary interjections often encountered here speak of a rushing outpouring of
these stories, a tumbling cascade of narratives and impressions, many of which
are inevitably lost before they’re caught. The ceramic pieces are more than
just inanimate objects made for us to appreciate: they’re also storehouses and
repositories of history and knowledge, available to those can read and
interpret.
What we are offered on
here are mere glimpses, a montage of all the meanings and aesthetic values
attached to the individual pieces, by the artist and those who acted as
custodians of them after their creator passed on as well as the ephemeral
admirers who came to look at them in the ensuing centuries. If these were silk
tapestries instead of ceramic vessels their size would be enormous, featuring the
endless tableaux and vignettes they’ve witnessed. For such small objects they
contain a universe within themselves – and as such, the artists on here could
only access so much of that knowledge and information. But this is also an
incredibly brave attempt to encapsulate and embrace all that these pieces mean and contain. And, if I may be so bold, improvisation was the only way
to go about this, as a means of relating to the intrinsic essences and
significances that the pieces hold.
It’s the living spirit of the vessels that’s on display
here, and all that those spirits have witnessed. It’s also a testament to the
interpretative abilities of the musicians that they were a) willing to venture
on such a project and b) to have the sensibility to interpret. Yes, it’s extremely experimental in places, and it
also tends more to the noisier end of the spectrum, which is why I think this
would appeal to a broad audience. True music evokes mood and nuance, and the
three pieces showcased here reward us with a rich array of narratives and
atmospheres, the threads of which combine to create textural contexts and
storylines. Give it a go: I can promise you that multiple listens will offer a
constant stream of new revelations and tales. This is a celebration of both
physical and metaphysical art.
Available as a CD with a
28-page 7” booklet and as a download from here:
Psymon Marshall 2019.
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