Absurd Summer
by Koji Asano
Solstice, Barcelona, 2003
audio cd, 11 tracks, 30'49", US$ 14.95
Solstice 030
Reviewed by Stefaan Van Ryssen
Hogeschool Gent
Jan Delvinlaan 115, 9000 Gent, Belgium
stefaan.vanryssen@pandora.be
Japanese composer Koji Asano (currently
based in Barcelona) has documented his musical
journeys in a series of over 30 self-produced
recordings.
Absurd Summer is a suite of eleven carefully
arranged parts, each in its own mood and
character, but sharing filtered and distorted
piano figures driftig in and out of a background
of almost white noise. Sometimes an abstract
melody peeks out from under the cover, hiding
again as soon as it takes form and shape.
Sometimes there are bells or metal plates.
Sometimes the wind seems to be moving loose
parts of some long forgotten metalworks,
playing a rhythm of its own. It is summer
after all, and it is, as the title suggests,
absurdly hot or threatening or languishing.
Then again, in the background, a melody
is played, in the right hand, gravely accompanied
by a repeated note in the left hand.
At the level of the composition, there is
no unifying mood or overarching structure
apart from the sheer consecutiveness of
the different sounds. Only the second and
the very last part show a resemblance in
texture and melody. So, Asano is exploring
the different shades of the distorted piano,
sent through seriously mangled speakers
and augmented with a choice of electronically
generated hisses, scratches, screaches and
unnameable sounds. The overall effect of
these thirty minutes is to raise the listeners
eyebrows, make her or him shift uneasily
and ask the very old question: why should
I listen to this? Why is this ever recorded?
Why should I bother to listen to this again?
There is no reason apart from the exploration
of the extended sound palette. It is a cd
to be scavenged by sampling wizards and
professional sound effect hunters.