at26 crepuscular rays
håvard volden 12-string guitar & objects
toshimaru nakamura no-input mixing board
1. Scattering 21:41
2. Perception 22:46
TT: 44:19
recorded in oslo & trondheim, november 2008
audio excerpt
“This evening I listened to a CD that it feels like I have owned for absolutely ages- Crepsucular Rays, the duo by Toshimaru Nakamura and Hårvard Volden on the Another Timbre label. I guess actually that I have had this one for a while, having bought a copy back at the concerts the duo played in London in February. Volden is a young Norwegian improviser that plays an acoustic guitar laid flat upon a table that he then bows, scrapes and applies electroacoustic devices to to create quite a wide variety of sounds, from everyday plucked strings to alien sounding drones. The inevitable similarity to Keith Rowe’s techniques, or at least his techniques from a few years back are unavoidable, but while some of Volden’s approach may well have been influenced at a distance by Rowe his sound is actually quite different, the main contrast being the acoustic nature of much of it. Toshi Nakamura’s no input mixing board will be familiar to most readers of these pages, and throughout the two tracks on Cresucular Rays he mixes up his approach from extended clean sinetones through to some of his more aggressively violent work.
In many ways Crepsucular Rays is just a good solid improv album. Having played it through three times tonight after a break of a couple of weeks when it didn’t get played at all, I am actually struggling to find things to say about it that are not really obvious comments. Its a CD that veers wildly between beautiful and ugly sounds, but arranges them in constantly shifting patterns that highlight a conversation that works in both linear and laminal ways at the same time. The twists and turns of the music, the little dark corners hiding unexpected moments of sound all curl and unfold together as the tracks progress, with Nakamura’s washes of colour and scorching rasps of heat seeping around the generally smaller, incidental sounds of Volden. The combination of electronic and acoustic sounds overlaid also gives a depth and richness to the music. It seems obvious to state it here, but it is the combination of the rough and the smooth, the dark and the light, short and long that give this music its energy. There are lengthy passages during which one or the other musician might let extended sounds run, or might repeat a single phrase several times. So the other will react with the opposite approach, adding disruption to any kind of comfort, throwing a handful of grit into the well-oiled machine.
Searching for an overall descriptive term with which to describe Crepsucular Rays maybe “sensual” fits the bill. Not in some cheesy warm and cosy bubble bath advert manner, but rather as a way of describing the mix of intense approaches and close engagement between the two musicians here. Sure we have heard music this good, and also even better from Toshi before on a good number of occasions, but its great to hear a new voice in the music as well working alongside him in a confident and accomplished manner. This duo seem to continue to play together quite often, despite the geographical challenges in doing so, suggesting that there is more to come from the pairing in the future. I certainly hope so.” Richard Pinnell, The Watchful Ear
“Another duet, this time between Håvard Volden on 12-string guitar and Toshimaru Nakamura on no-input mixing board. Two 20-minute tracks, two meticulous improvisations where noise and silence weave a physical form of tension. Nakamura always manages to enrapture with only a few sound gestures, thanks to his incredible sense of space-time placement. Volden easily finds his place inside this soundworld. Excellent.”
Francois Couture, Monsieur Délire
’Håvard Volden’s guitar has twelve strings, and the no-input mixing board of Toshi Nakamura is always the same. In other words here Nakamura has two times as many sounds onto which to add effects than he does with a regular guitar. And moreover this is what he sets about doing. Pulling or stretching the sound of a string into infinity (or almost) to force Volden to find the best way of producing a counter-attack. At one moment the guitar sounds like a buzzing koto or whirring cogwheeels, but it is soon spitting out interference and distortion, the chords and arpeggios of noise music. I think I’ve heard Nakamura elsewhere playing more poetically, but what he loses in poetry he here gains in brute reality. Poetry is perhaps no longer the priority.”
Pierre Cécile, Le Son du Grisli
“Three new releases on Another Timbre.....Another new name for me is Havard Volden, who plays 12-string guitar and objects. He played two concerts in Norway in 2008 with Toshimaru Nakamura and his no-input mixing board. I am not sure if these were edited, or if these twenty-two minutes are the complete recordings. Not that it matters that much of course. There is some great powerful playing going on here. Nakamaru is a drift here with his no input mixer, layering a firm foundation of buzzing, ringing and crackling sounds. Volden plays his guitar with the objects, subtracting an interesting range of odd tones from the 12 strings. Bowing, plucking and hitting become a steady stream here that goes along fine with the stream of consciousness sounds from Nakamaru. Or perhaps Volden leads and Nakamaru follows? I don't know, but its surely a great flow and fine interaction....
Three excellent discs.” Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly
“The Norwegian guitarist Håvard Volden is getting some international recognition.
Last week he did an excellent performance in London, along with three well-known
musicians of the electro-acoustic contemporary field. Yesterday, he played with Toshimaru
Nakamura, the Japanese minimalist who plays the no-input mixing board, on the first
of three John Cage events at the Henie-Onstad Art Centre this season.
Crepuscular
Rays is a timbre based album with some auditory surprises. The music is slow and
quiet, with contrasting elements. A cutting tone, a crackling flicker, or a deep
bass tone gives the progress colour.It is exciting to listen to an expression that
moves with this much unpredictability.
The sound of Håvard Volden’s tabletop guitar
is manipulated beyond recognition, while the strings vibrate in a traditional style.
The sound can be perceived as cool, but it is a coolness of refreshing quality and
a substance leaving the listener with a warm impression.” Arild
Andersen, Aftenposten
“Den gode Toshimaru Nakamuras svidande utpressade ljud ur hans mixerbord känner jag väl till. Det blir minsta möjliga rörelse och största möjliga tystnad. Han rör sig underifrån hela tiden, skär, repar, musiken är gäll, aldrig vilande. Det är därför litet märkligt att höra honom tillsammans med norske Håvard Volden i Another timbres fina gitarrserie. Volden spelar en dramatiskt och klanginriktad tolvsträngad gitarr och diverse små objekt.
Det är mycket inriktat på ljud, närmast i ett slags post-fri-impro. Nakamura spelar alltid som om han hade all tid i världen och inget tålamod hos publiken att ta hänsyn till. Det tycker jag är fina fisken. En långsam uttröttning skaver ner förväntningar, till och med på att det skulle handla om musik. I stället följer vilan, försjunkandet, otåligheten, ångest som går i dagen. Här blir på ett vis Volden den otålige lyssnaren som inte pallar med att balansera på utdragna knasterlinor.
Han tänder till och liksom släcker Nakamuras raspigaste brusbränder med vackra toner från gitarren som får klinga ut i rummet som om det vore new age på gång. Det finns en ljudromantik kring det välklingande, som jag inte riktigt är överens med. Nakamura sprutar på som bara han kan och tänder hela mixerbordet i kärva skärvor. Volden gnuggar med, men föredrar ändå att spela enkla snabba figurer på gitarren. Jag är inte överens hela vägen. Det är vackert men ändå saknar jag väl litet av improns lärdomar av öronföreningar. Kontraster i all ära, men försjunkenhet är också något att revoltera mot och undersöka. Här ställs för mig en fantastisk musiker i konstaterandets konst mot en hänsynslös mästare i ifrågasättandets grusigt kärva konst, där icke en skön ton lämnas ovänd.
Sedan kan man invända att Volden skapar som en spegelblank yta genom sitt skönspel med små vågbrus som bildar horisontlinje i Nakamuras expressiva landskap. Visst är det så, och då blir musiken enhetlig för mig igen.
Men för mig återstår till slut intrycket av en välformulerad gitarrist av stor integritet tillsammans med en ohyfsad och intressant ljudkompis, som inte håller sig till reglerna en enda gång. Det gör skivan oemotståndlig. Om än bitvis tråkig, vilket är lika med konventionell, men denna tråkighet löper parallellt med Nakamuras maniska rivjärnsinsatser.
Livs levande i sina många brottytor.” Thomas Millroth, Sound of Music