Lethe — Catastrophe Point #9 & # 10
The release comes in a four colour fold out six panel sleeve that takes in pictures from the two sites where the pieces were created. With the two CDs fitting in either end of the sleeve.
This time around site wise Kiyoharu is utilizing two sites in Montreal, Canada. Catastrophe Point #9 takes it sounds from a Silo, and Catastrophe Point #10 a closed off tunnel. Catastrophe Point #9 comes in two twenty minute parts, and takes up disc one. And Catastrophe Point #10 is just a single forty minute track, which takes up disc one.
So first up on disc one we have “Catastrophe Point #9 - Part 1”, and this track opens with what sounds like distant rain or weather heard from inside a tunnel. Then in under a minute you get a series of echo bound clanks, scraps, and sudden walking in loud boots type sound making- on paper these don’t sound very captivating, but trust me they are, & deeply moody/ creepy too. By around the third minute we’ve move into a series of layered ‘n’ sustained scraps & drones- these seem to surround you in an noisy yet eerier manner, and you can really hear Kiyoharu's sonic ability as he mangers to create such an capvating feeling of moody creativeness. From here on in the track moves from: panning back creepy drone scraps, distant forking steel drones, sudden metal on metal attacks, and slow moody drone drifts ‘n’ creepy swoons- often the sound picture is very detailed & multi levelled giving the whole thing a very three dimensional feeling. This tracks a great subtle shifting start to release, and its full with such rewarding & moody textural detail too.
Second on disc one we have of course “Catastrophe Point #9 - Part 2”, and this track opens with a multi layered mix of rotating scraping 'n' dragging, and spread-out yet pattern arranged clanking. By around the minute mark a deep & reverberating metal drumming has been added to the sound map- and the whole thing now has a very ominous & malevolent feel to it, as we get layers of eerier circular scraping 'n' billowing layered with fairly rapid drumming. By around the 4th minute the rapid drumming has died down, but there’s still a very devilish & malevolent feel here, as we get moody cinematic horn like steel billows mixed with shimmering & moody metallic drone hazes. The rest of the track moves between slow & chilling metallic drone hazes, sudden chains of metal on metal patterns, circular scrapings ‘n’ eerier bays, and sudden/fleeting metal drum attacks. Again this is another very rewarding track that has quite a almost cinematic feel to it- I could really see elements of this track been used to great effect in a moody, grey yet suddenly brutal horror movie.
So on disc two we have just one track, and this comes in the form of “Catastrophe Point #10”. The track opens with a mixture of twinkling & fumbling metal texturing, and broken up metal & possible brick hits. By around the second minute we get distant hints of eerier horn like drones appear from time to time, and these are added to by what sounds like breaking, dragging & fumbling of wooden floor board textures. By around the 5th minute the track has become built around closely miked knocking & dragging sounds- these could either created by either wood or rumble manipulation , or maybe a mix of both. As the track moves into it’s 8th minute we get a sudden glass blub smash, as Kiyoharu masterfully starts to fill out the sound picture with more sudden darts & scrapes of sound. At around the 11 minute mark a selection of more prevalent bangs & metal hints are added into the mix. The rest of the track finds Kiyoharu building up a wonderfully detailed sound map, which alternates a fair bit of between different types of sound making. Also there’s a great feel of build tension and release here too. I guess this track is texturally the most complex, layered & detailed of the three tracks on offer here.
Catastrophe Point #9 & # 10 is another highly rewarding work from this project- really I can’t think of anyone else who creates building based composition like Kiyoharu. I guess you could compared it to some of Z’ev’s more subtle work, but I think Kiyoharu very much has his own distinctive, deeply atmospheric & offten eerier sound.