Given ambient dronemeister Chihei Hatakeyama’s dedication to a particularly restricted tonal palette he’s relatively prolific, releasing 10 albums since his 2006 debut Minima Moralia for Kranky. That was a fine start, filigree digital slivers shaved from harmonic guitar pings and semi-urban field recording, unified and tamed by lowercase processing. Since then the guitar has been gradually, progressively erased, such that all that remains in Mirror is a warm tonal flicker, brightening even the haziest of drones. In this Mirror can be compared to the latest by likeminded Loscil, his glacially reduced Coast/ Range/ Arc.
At fifteen minutes opener ‘Ferrum’ is among his longest works, silky streams of sinuous tones gently swaying, like a flag in calm breeze. ‘Spilth’ is lower pitched, sadder, and more menacing, but again contrast, here a stream of cleaner, finer tones, offers solace and release. ‘Renitency’ introduces a crunchy element to the low end, like the sweeping blades of a ceiling fan processed with granular synthesis, while viscous golden threads clog the higher register.
In addition to these standard Hatakeyama works, the alternate tracks on Mirror are short snatches of unadorned field recording. Previously these sounds – birds, water, wind, the haphazard hubbub of a park near Hatekyama’s Tokyo home – peaked through his longer works, but they function successfully separated like this, as breathers between the meatier courses. The subtleties between Hatekeyama releases make for a fascinating oeuvre to follow, with Mirror one more engaging stepping stone in his continued development.
Joshua Meggitt
