Shurayuki-hime — Swankiss

Here’s another release from Lurker Bias Neon Wall series, and this time around we have two tracks from Newcastle Upon Tyne based HNW act Shurayuki-hime. The C32 release came in an edition of ten copies, and featured neon pink sleeve that takes in a  photo of a young oriental women in granny glasses.

So first up on side A we have very lengthily titled  “Golden Hair, A Flower Garland, A Ballerina In A Jewelry Box Twirls, A World Of Romance, Of Sweet Innocence, Of The Delights Of Daydreams.” This is a hellish thick & overloaded bit of ‘wall-craft’- to start with it’s sound like there is little rhyme or reason to the textural pile-up going on here, but as the track progresses you start to make out the layers of texture, and there is quite a lot of rewarding & worthy detail going on here. So far I’ve made out the following tones: A tumbling ‘n’ rolling low-end. A shunting ‘n’ billowing mid range. A warbling & muffled piping like harmonic tone (which appears ever so often). And layers of  juddering, yet slightly slipping mid-range sub tones.  The whole ‘wall’ remains densely packed & ultra thick though-out it’s entire length, and if you enjoy ‘wall-craft’ that you really have to focus in on to find detail- you’ll dig this.

Flipping over to side two & we have another lengthy titled track in the form of “Where Clothes Adorned With Bows And Lace Fit For A Doll Bring Instant Happiness. Forever With The Heart Of A Princess, With The Gleam Of A Beautiful Swan.”.  This track seems a little more defined in its layer make-up from the onset, though it’s still another fairly dense affair. It brings together the follow textures: A rolling yet earthy wobbling ‘n’ buffeting. A hacking lower-to-mid range jitter. A selection of pelting yet dense descents, this thinner rattling & shaking  element- which appears ever so often, and this very occasional  beeping element(which sounds like a van reversing)..deep, deep down in the mix.  Together these elements create a nice bit of very subtle shifting walled noise, which blends dense bass weight with rewarding textural detail.

This is the second Shurayuki-hime release I’ve reviewed, after this years CDR Kanno Sugako. And I must say I was much more taken by this release; as both tracks here are most worthy- With side A’s track offering up a rewarding immersion in dense yet detailed ‘wall-matter’. And side B’s track been of a more layer defined, though no less satisfying slice of HNW.