SOD-21

Asuna + Opitope: "Sunroom"

This is the first collaborative full-length
 release by Japan's Opitope, the duo of Chihei
 Hatakeyama (Kranky, Room40) and
 Tomoyoshi Date (FlyRec), and Asuna
 (spekk, Headz). Listeners familiar with
 Opitope's majestic 2007 release "Hau,"
or any of the more recent output by
 Asuna, Hatakeyama or Date, will
 find much to love here. Across the
 albums' nine tracks, gossamer webs
 of treated sound (made from all
 manner of plaintive piano, rubbed
 strings, delicately picked guitars and
 evocative accordian, vibraphone and
 sampling)  hover, resonate, ebb and
 disperse. Paradoxical as it may seem,
 there is a painstaking effortlessness
 to this music. In some ways, "Sunroom" 
feels like a perfect followup to "Hau,"
 with one critical distinction. Where that
 previous release, as with Asuna's
 wonderful "THIS" double disc and much
 of Hatakeyama's recent solo work,
 focused principally on textures and
 abstraction, here an added emphasis
 is placed on songcraft. Ultimately,
 we might best situate these recordings
 alongside Date's 2008 masterpiece
 "Human Being," as there is, to be sure,
 a similar playfulness, deftness of
 juxtaposition, accessibility, and sincere
 reverence to be found in the radiant
 compositions of "Sunroom." Throughout
 the album's duration, the masterful,
capable hands of Date, Hatakeyama
 and Asuna, craft miniature, effervescent
 gems of songs which swell and bloom
 like the changing of seasons or
 the passage of time in memory.

Clips from "Sunroom" may be heard
over here.

Available in February


home