Description
#nazoranai #vinyl #vinylrecords
Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi, and Stephen O’Malley team up again to reform their extraordinary Nazoranai trio for a powerful third release from the outer limits. With a haunting title courtesy of Haino, the album unfolds over a fifty-minute span, featuring intense hurdy gurdy, guitar, and electronic elements, supported by deep bass and possessive percussion that serves as a reminder of the immense power of raw and emotional music.
The term ‘Nazoranai,’ meaning ‘not repeating’ in Japanese, defines the group’s distinct style, setting them apart from the realm of free improvisation or ‘sokkyo,’ as Haino would say. Instead, they adopt a meticulous and measured approach that still maintains an unapologetically bold sound, skillfully avoiding the clichés often associated with the ‘free’ genre. By transforming Ambarchi’s cleansing chimes and precise drumming, O’Malley’s guitar takes on a colossal, indistinct form, harmonizing fluidly with the percussion to create expansive and shape-shifting soundscapes for Haino’s expressive performance on the Hurdy Gurdy – an instrument he has rarely played in his extensive discography.
It takes the trio the entire first side and a significant portion of the second to build up the climactic storm, culminating in Haino’s gut-wrenching vocals when they reach astronomical speeds. In this ethereal realm, Haino shines with his impassioned vocal convulsions and emotionally charged guitar work, while Ambarchi unleashes a relentless assault from all sonic angles, and O’Malley’s presence looms as a thunderous force at the periphery of the sonic spectrum.
However, it is the sub-harmonic bass that truly sets this album apart, propelling the music with an intangible force that is harder to grasp than Ambarchi’s punctuated drums or Haino’s piercing vocals. Its elusive and enigmatic quality elevates rock music to a new level, and O’Malley and his comrades deserve recognition for harnessing this dimension with remarkable creativity and ingenuity. As a result, this album truly encapsulates the overwhelming pressure of Haino’s visceral live performances, even through relatively modest amplification – a testament to the trio’s skill and imagination in capturing this enigmatic quality.
