Néo

The title of this recording, the first album of original compositions by Japanese-American instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe, can loosely be translated as ‘the beginning of sound,’ or ‘unified sound.’ The suggestion is of a unity between the traditional music of Japan and the contemporary Western music that formed Watanabe's initial training, but also of a sense of communion with something higher than oneself. As such, the pieces that comprise this album have a distinctly ritualistic quality – the stark instrumentation being largely composed of Watanabe's shinobue and nohkan (bamboo flutes), and layered taiko (percussion). The austerity of this orchestration allows the album to be elevated by the occasional introduction of a new element, such as the clustered vocal chants of opening tracks ‘Bloodlines’ and ‘Dreams’, and the koto (zither) of ‘Shinobu’. The latter piece is a particular highlight, as the koto provides a suitably hypnotic bed for the flutes and vocals, creating an oneiric, mesmerising effect.

The album feels like a culmination of Watanabe's trajectory up until this point, having previously collaborated with Kodo and the Silk Road Ensemble. Watanabe's prior training in jazz makes itself present in the freely improvised passages that permeate the album, always returning to well-defined melodic fragments, and coalescing in some stunning composed passages. This is a recording that succeeds in being at once primal and cerebral; it is clearly the work of a singular mind.