Maju has had a home on Extreme since 1999 and, as the title suggests, this is the Japanese duo’s 5th album, all released on the label. Individually, the two members – Sakana Hosomi and Masaki Narita – have extensive resumes which cover avant-rock, film soundtracks, J-Pop, ambience and moody electronics. Hosomi started out as a keyboardist and Narita as a drummer. Both have since expanded onto other real and virtual instruments. This introduction serves to account for the amazing musicality of Maju-5 along with its mature, controlled use of forward looking production and sound environment creation. There is obvious experience and mastery at play.
The seven tracks on the album are rooted in hissy processed sounds, the electronics dominating though a very warm and human soul is always present. You can hear the fx parameters shift in real time as the producers improvise over the sedate, meditative drones. Tracks range in length from 6 minutes to over 12 minutes – indicative of the mood building the duo are keen to explore. There are an incredible number of layers at work simultaneously with subtle synth drones quietly bathing the background, DSP glitches and distortion fuzz framing the middle ground. Odd sounds – perhaps an electronic bell in ‘fbk1’, or processed kalimba in ‘Meguro’ – add a pointillist focus over the impressionistic backdrops. These sounds could be sourced from anywhere, acoustic or electronic, but are fed through the machines and float out in a rich, unified tapestry of timbre. Stray synth melodies break out in ‘Tuning’, only to be engulfed in warm haze before falling back to earth. ‘Point’s closes the album in treacly globs of synth which have a monotonous mechanical subtext creating a peaceful finale.
Maju know their way around sounds. They know how to build dreamlike states with a mixture of floaty ambience and spiky texture. This tension of the calm and the agitated make for a beguiling and rewarding experience.
Adrian Elmer
