It’s not often that an album cover completely sums up it’s contents perfectly – Eluvium’s Talk Amongst The Trees is a perfect example of this, hazy figures roaming a misty landscape seemingly without purpose, yet with a kind of longing or subverted reasoning that perfectly fits the subtle twists in an ambient soundscape that Eluvium had woven perfectly. However, AIR IN KYOTO’s new EP, Take Heart, Blind Beast, is certainly one to add to the list. Similar to Eluvium, AIR IN KYOTO uses looped droning ambience soundscapes as a canvas in order to paint an elaborate picture; however, AIK utilises more organic instruments mashed through a synthetic filter in order to achieve his means.
The two track EP is the fourth release by Swedish musician Marcus Spång under the alias AIR IN KYOTO (the last being the Isopharmacy album released earlier this year), and upon launching into title track Take Heart, Blind Beast, it’s obvious the alias was carefully chosen – a faint distorted guitar carefully yet obstrusively fades it’s way into the track, before a whole manner of Aphex-esque beats pummel their way into both ears, one at a time, and the immediate thought was nature’s entaglement with these urban enviroments we’ve nurtured. The almost fragile presence of the acoustic guitar halfway through the track is marred by all kinds of effects giving it enough volume and influence over the beats in the track that it’s never relegated to the back seat despite a barrage of glitch workings over the top. And I say “marred” in the most flattening way – acoustic guitars have never been renowned for the effects you can manipulate with them, but here… it all comes together and just works.
Similarly, the shorter but still awe inspiring second track Still Black Canvas is a collage of noises that, when considering artists that use similar effects (again, Aphex Twin being the prime suspect, along with Squarepusher and Boards of Canada), it’s a strangely calming affair. In the vein of Loveless, these are songs which, despite their slow, calming parts, need to be played loudly in order to realise the power of the sum of it’s parts. While remaining with the same formula that Isopharmacy went down, Take Heart, Blind Beast is a collection that remains constantly on the edge of collapse – this is gloomy, almost apocalyptic stuff, the fuzzy electric layers underminded by the fragility of the acoustic, and is ultimately refreshing in a time where ‘noise’ most often means a sonic barrage.
Take Heart, Blind Beast is available for free on Sordo Recordings, and is downloadable here:
