Lawrence English — Kiri No Oto

Lawrence English is known as an ambient sound artist as well as the proprietor of the Room40 label. Kiri No Oto translates roughly from Japanese to English as "sound of fog", which is absolutely an appropriate title for this release. It starts off with Organs Lost at Sea, a brilliant, relatively intense drone piece. The organ tones sound stacked atop each other, in the Phill Niblock vein, and they're either distorted in post-production, or just mixed so far into the red that a blurry effect is attained. The next track, Soft Fuse is a mellow ambient piece, which includes little micro-tonal elements if listened to closely. White Spray starts off, again, in an ambient vein, but at about a minute and a half in, it becomes a dense and noisy, shifting soundscape. It's an abstract piece which generates tension, pulling you forward, much like an undertow into the next track. Waves Sheer Light is the sound below the waves. These sounds come at you from every direction, with hidden melodies and speaker-phasing ambience undulating in seemingly limitless combinations. And so it goes.

What's truly fascinating about this album is the atmosphere that English generates. It's a rare instance of a concept album which draws you into an audio representation so convincingly. It's difficult not to picture the cascading surf, rough seas or all enveloping fog when listening to Kiri No Oto. What's most intriguing is the fact that none of these pieces are in any way unadorned field recordings. English uses the abstract means of an artist to achieve the end result

The sleeve tells us that this album was funded by the Australian government, through the Australia Council for the Arts. You might think that it would be dry, high minded, perhaps even conservative as a result. But that's not the case at all. In fact, Kiri No Oto is not only artful, it's downright entertaining. And It sounds amazing. The production is top notch, and it's engineered to provide a different experience every time you listen to it, depending on your location in the room. Headphone listening is fine, but Kiri No Oto is best heard through loudspeakers at a generous volume. Heartily recommended.