HAKOBUNE
"In Arboreal Whispering" C33
(Constellation Tatsu)




The sound of plighted mountainside breaking way; networks upon rooted network giving up the ghost, muddy topsoil pushing mercilessly at bedrock’s timid edge, the surrounding fog lining up to give what it can to this violent transition. All of this, but from an ant’s eye view, in slow motion, two feet below.

Japan’s Hakobune has countless (and stellar!) guitar-based ambient-drone albums under his belt, all of which are lyrical and meditative in their own special way, but this newest one via Constellation Tatsu is a bit darker, heavier, slower, thicker; something like a boiling mudflow that refuses to harden, scalding everything in its path. The balance between dissonance and consonance, just like the task of isolating the (nearly) independent layers (and their synchronicity) is a challenge for the most accomplished ear, and one sure to harvest myriad outcomes, depending on depth/mood of listening.

and/or


-- Jacob An Kittenplan