On these two live performances, this duo (that previously performed together as Overhang Party) serves up two slow, drifting pieces that hover into minimalist and dissonant spaces, but never stopping or becoming stagnant, weaving together strings and electronics into a mixture that is surprisingly complex and rich for live recordings.
The title piece, recorded last year in Tokyo, emphasizes Fukuoka's cello and violin at first, conjuring a slow, but distinct and deliberate beauty that, even as it builds in complexity, remains tastefully understated.Sachiko's electronics eventually fortify it into a denser, bassier tone before opening it up into a more dissonant, noisy space.It never goes too far into harshness, however, and soon reduces back to a sparse, rhythmic throb to close the track.
The second, "Prayer of a Fool 2011," recorded in Paris, emphasizes the electronic end of the duo’s sound more, mixing rising and falling synth layers with blurry, out of focus voices.Rather than the slow, drifting propulsion of the other performance, this one has a distinctly sad, melodic quality to it.Monastic vocals only add to the overall somber feeling, but it soon evolves into a more dissonant world of guttural noise and sci-fi squelches.The closing moments lean more into solemn loops and shortwave radio static.
Were it not for the applause at the end of the second piece, I would have had no idea that it was a live performance as it has all of the complexity and structure of a studio work.While there is a lugubrious craw to both tracks, it is completely fitting, and never does it drag too slow, it instead emphasizes the restrained, ascetic mood.√°TOMO‚àë is an atmospheric suite of acoustic and electronic sound that manages to both satisfy the worlds of drone and more dissonant noise.
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