As two of the more recent works from the prolific Eric Hardiman (who also performs and records as a member of Century Plants, Twilight of the Century, and a slew of other projects), Remember Me Now and Surface Language are distinctly different facets to the Rambutan project. The former is a diverse collection of instrumentation and sound, from found processed recordings, improvised percussion and guitar. The latter, however, has a more consistent focus, built from repeating motifs and loops fitting a more tautly structured composition. Both, however, capture Hardiman’s penchant for bending objects and instruments into often unexplainable sounds, yet result in nuanced compositions of melody and abstraction.
Remember Me Now is more of an album in its structure and presentation, with 11 pieces of variable lengths that draw from all different facets of the Rambutan sound.Pieces such as the opening "Petrified" and "Sliding Scale Deviance" capture his mostly amelodic, free improvisation work.The former is all crunchy scrapes panned left to right while chiming and gentle glassy sounds are stretched over top.The latter begins with the metallic vibrating of bass guitar strings that could just as easily be vibrating springs, creating anything but a conventional rhythm. "Sliding Scale Deviance" may have Hardiman adding some lighter electronic sounds to the mix later on, but that grinding string scrape is what makes the piece the most memorable.
Guitar acts as the focus on "Kill The Lights," which slowly builds up from complex, intertwining layers of slightly less mangled instrumentation."If I Can’t Be Wrong" features rather untreated guitar playing towards its conclusion, beginning with fluttering alien noises and an overall sense of moving forward and backward, but never standing still.The conventional and unconventional both blend excellently on two of the albums high points.The first, "I Should Be Tired" captures the delirium that can come from extended insomnia brilliantly via odd collaged noises and erratic pitch bends.Hints of melody and bizarre percussion slip through fleetingly, resulting in a piece of disorienting ambiance.Basic piano melodies and found noises are contrasted on "Fourth Day," coming together like a sparse musical composition combined with a piece of purely free improvisation.
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Surface Language, on the other hand, is two 15 minute pieces that stay in a more constant, focused mood rather than the eclecticism of Remember Me Now.Ghostly electronics and strange humming feedback make for the foundation of "The Surface of Language."Hardiman adds and subtracts layers with regularity, maintaining a consistent structure but never letting it pause for long, eventually drifting off into a galaxy of cosmic electronics.The other piece, "The Language of Surface" is built upon echoing loops and hushed rhythms.Again he constructs the piece slowly, with the alternating pitch of chiming percussion bouncing the mood between light and darkness.Slowly he nudges the piece towards a noisier, more chaotic conclusion compared to how it began.
Remember Me Now is the more diverse and wide-ranging of these two releases, but for that reason it jumps all over the map as far as tone and mood.In contrast, Surface Language makes for two more focused and consistent compositions, but also less variation.While they may be different, both are brilliantly executed, and both releases capture Hardiman’s singular, powerful approach to creating music that sounds like no one else.
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