Catastrophe Point #5
Lethe
$12.99
Catastrophe Point #5 is the latest in Kuwayama Kiyoharu‘s signature series of compositions that explore the charged, mysterious atmosphere of disused industrial sites. For this album, Lethe turns his attention to an abandoned warehouse by a pier in his hometown of Nagoya, Japan, using objects discovered in situ to perform a ritual of sonic resurrection. He brings a dead space back to life, giving it a voice and allowing it to speak. Metal chains, sheet metal, broken machinery, and factory debris are bowed, struck, and dragged across the concrete floors of the massive hall, reverberating and responding as Kuwayama and his microphones scuttle across the desolate terrain. Growling cello and unstable horns underscore the torrents of percussive clatter. Catastrophe Point #5 is a haunting album of volatile, malevolent ambiance.
Kiyoharu Kuwayama began working with sound in the late 1980s, using half-scale violin, cello, and found junk objects in the group Minotaure. In 1999, he and violinist Rina Kijima formed the improvisational acoustic duo Kuwayama-Kijima to bring their instruments outdoors and perform in environments with unique acoustic properties, notably underneath a highway overpass and in a construction site. Between 1999 and 2003, Kuwayama organized the five-day-long Lethe.Voice.Festival in an unused grain warehouse.
Lethe‘s previous release on Intransitive was Tsurumai, a stellar collaborative CD with Dutch noise legends Kapotte Muziek. He has also appeared on albums with bassist Matt Heyner (Malkuth, Cold Bleak Heat, No-Neck Blues Band), Jonathan Coleclough, Hidekai Shimada (Agencement), Carter Thornton (Enos Slaughter, Izititiz), Kiyoshi Mizutani, and Campbell Kneale (Birchville Cat Motel).
For fans of Christoph Heemann, Surface of the Earth, The New Blockaders, Z’ev, or Organum.
Praise for Catastrophe Point #5:
“A compelling mix, in some ways reminiscent of the music of Olivia Block who also has buttressed field recordings with oddly traditional, chordal sounds. Lethe’s space, however, is both cavernous and claustrophobic, not bucolic. When the brass enters the second of the two pieces, amidst the clanking of chains and breaking glass, the effect is anything but pastoral — much more anguished. One imagines some massive, endless, Beckettian performance of La Monte Young‘s “Poem for Tables, Chairs and Benches” with additional anarchic behavior thrown in for good measure. A strong, dark effort, well worth hearing.” – Squid’s Ear
Praise for Lethe‘s previous albums:
“The music sounds like it’s taking piece in a vast, pitch black aircraft hangar of the soul.” – The Wire (UK)
“The building itself sounds as if it had been invoked to make a final statement in conjunction with various metal objects, stones, and judiciously implemented instrumentation and electronic tones conjured up by sonic sorcerer Kuwayama in a hypnogogic trance. A mysterious and surreal immersion of apocalyptic proportions.” – e/I Magazine
“… an open architectural atmosphere that in a way is hugely organic, taking the listener to different spheres.” – Vital Weekly
