ARTIST...: Tashi Wada with Yoshi Wada and Friends
TITLE....: FRKWYS Vol. 14 - Nue
YEAR.....: 2018
LABEL....: Rvng Intl.
CAT.NO...: FRKWYS14
GENRE....: Ambient
TIME.....: 49:03
SIZE.....: 112.47 MB
QUALITY..: 320kbps/44.1kHz/Joint Stereo
ENCODER..: LAME
SOURCE...: WEB
RLS.DATE.: 2019/03/20
WEBSITE..: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/?id=Byzpvkjfdpvw2ansavagprrrffu
TRACKLIST
01) (01:59) Aubade
02) (05:30) Ground
03) (04:44) Litany
04) (05:06) Ondine
05) (06:44) Niagara
06) (04:09) Double Body
07) (03:54) Bottom of The Sky
08) (03:36) Mutable Signs
09) (07:17) Fanfare
10) (06:04) Moments of Exile (Coda)
Composer Tashi Wada has performed for years with his father Yoshi Wadaùartist,
composer, and early member of the Fluxus movement. However, they have rarely appeared
together in studio settings. Nue, the fourteenth entry in RVNG Intl.Æs
intergenerational FRKWYS series, finally brings Tashi and Yoshi, along with an
eclectic group of close friends and extended family, together on tape.
Nue draws on aspects of TashiÆs background for his widest vision to dateùamong them
the minimalist bagpipe music of Yoshi, who co-composed three of the tracks, the
psychoacoustic and perceptual explorations of his mentor, composer James Tenney, and
reimagined forms of ancient and devotional music. The album, however, is not a
tribute to the past or a recapitulation of familiar sounds. Instead, Nue is an
intertwining of people and ideas as a means of growing, of looking inward to move
outward, and of looking back to move forward.
To achieve this growth, Tashi assembled a core group of fellow travelers, including
Yoshi, composer Julia Holter, producer Cole MGN, and percussionist Corey Fogel, to
give life to this multifaceted suite. As an experience, Nue subtly navigates the
interactions, intimacy and spaciousness of this group.
The albumÆs title itself is a nod to TashiÆs abiding interest in duality and the
unknown: nue is a mythological Japanese chimera with the face of a monkey, the legs
of a tiger, and a snake for a tail, a composite form, at once disturbing and
otherworldly. But, as the composer points out, nue is also French for nakedùstripped
of complexity, bare and exposed, but also raw and essential.
From the doubling of tonesùand the world of harmonic nuances such an action produces
ùto the rich interplay between individual musicians, all baring their own
personalities and experiences through shared performance, TashiÆs compositions allow
space for these elements to join and grow. The multipartite creature that is an
ensemble melds in the simplicity and purity of the music itself.
As explained by Tashi, each part was written with an individual in mind, not simply
an instrument. And each individual performer makes their mark, from HolterÆs vocal
performances on the cresting, oceanic ôMutable Signsö and ôOndineö with guest
vocalists Simone Forti, Jessika Kenney and Laura Steenberge, to FogelÆs resonant,
precise percussion on ôBottom of the Sky.ö Producer Cole MGN, who has worked
extensively with artists like Beck and Ariel Pink, helped to create a world of sound
with minimal yet multi-dimensional materials. Like many of its influences, Nue uses
deceivingly simple means to create complex, coherent worlds and narratives.
Tashi notes the influence of legendary Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, whose work
looked inward, investigating memory and emotion and dream, to understand the often
overwhelming world outside the self. Like LispectorÆs classic novel Near to the Wild
Heart, Nue cleaves these archetypal dualitiesùworld/self, old/new, complex/simpleùto
create a work that allows them to coalesce into something singular.
As Tashi states in his liner notes: ôMy desire was to create something both old and
new soundingùancient and futuristicùand ultimately something of its own world and
other. Nue is a vision, an endless night of dreams, and a personal history of sorts,
full of joys and demons.ö
-