Astro and Winters In Osaka — Reverberating Forest
Reverberating Forest is a single 40 minutes track, combining the best of both worlds from the respective artists.
The track begins with a dense humming drone. It’s thick and pulsing, but underneath you can hear some guitar plucks begin to take shape. The drone continues to swell for several minutes and is later joined by static waves crashing in the background. As the track progresses, new sounds are introduced: machinery churning, a whistling tea kettle, and swirling hiss. The piece resembles a growing mass….a living organism, moving….devouring. Things begin to climax around 10 minutes in and a building rumble makes it’s presence known. Noise is ramping up, however you can still hear some twinkly guitar parts working their way underneath. The tea kettle sound really picks up steam (no pun intended) around the 17 ½ minute mark and the noise consumes any semblances of guitar. A massive maelstrom of static rumble, sculpted and molded, becomes the dominant force. You can hear guitar faintly in the background, but there’s no mistaken, it’s Astro’s time to shine. Bright chirps, high-pitched feedback and spritely beeps are peppered within the static swarm. It’s really vigorous and unrelenting.
Around 26 mintues in the drone starts making it’s way back and a few moments later things start to chill out a bit. Heavier...noisier elements are still present, however more dispersed and broken up. As the winding down commences, guitars reassert themselves. In the waning moments of the track’s final push, just when you think things will end on a quiet note, some high pitched squeals seal the deal.
In retrospect, while a single track, the entire 40 minutes that make up Reverberating Forest sounds like it’s composed of 3 segments. The first third of the disc sounded like it was dominated by Winters in Osaka, the second third sounded like it was all Astro, and the final third really sounded like an interplay between the 2 artists. It’s not a complaint by any means, some collaborations work best under those circumstances, this one being a prime example.