silentwave – ‘The River’
While browsing through the new releases from my favourite labels, I stumbled upon ‘The River’ by silentwave, the creative outlet of Japanese musician, Yoshinori Noguchi. The album appears on the Parisian label, Hylé Tapes, as a limited edition cassette consisting of two lengthy, improvised synth performances totaling an impressive fifty minutes. Too often, improvised music, especially within what can loosely be categorized as experimental, can be difficult to approach, requiring a specific mind set, atmosphere, and situation. ‘The River’ (Side A) and ‘The Mountain’ (Side B) require no forethought, and emerge as cascading instrumental pieces of music that are as peaceful as they are all-consuming. Both sides A & B differ slightly in timbre, but both follow a similar approach to the performance of boundless improvisation with no need for a discernable direction. ‘The River’ would appear to be the perfect soundtrack to a restless night; as it’s approaching 2am at the time of writing, the album offers nothing short of deep relaxation, inducing a meditative state as a response to the seemingly endless auditory landscapes created by Noguchi.
‘The River’ will be released October 20th, via Hylé Tapes, in a limited edition of 30 cassettes and digital download.
