Tsukimono - Time Canvas (Release the bats 2XLP)

And one more from Foxy Digitalis. More on the way today as well.

A massive double LP offering, “Time Canvas” reissues a 2007 CD-R from Johan Gustavsson’s Tsukimono project to beautiful effect. Gustavvson’s spare dronescapes, often derived from loops of a single instrument, are given the treatment they deserve with four sides of rich vinyl housed in a dark heavy cardstock shell.

The strength of the outer package is made clear as soon as the needle touches down, as “Blown Away” opens with a subtly building drone marked by its cautious sensitivity and spacious outlook. Air-filled though it may be however, the piece hardly drifts along without weight, instead filling the skies like some giant zeppelin slowly cruising the spaceways. “Train Home, Home” has the same shimmering effect, lightly meshing soft rhythmic punctuations with clicks and string bends that don’t so much drone as drift.

The side-long “Cello,” made up of looped drones from--you guessed it!--cello serves more or less as the album’s centerpiece. At twenty minutes, it is not only the longest piece here but also the lushest, as the instrument’s full tones are splayed apart before recombining themselves in tonal lines of orchestral depth. I suppose the major reference point here is Feldman, but these are less precious than the composer’s dainty works. Though I suppose “Rothko Chapel” isn’t too bad a reference point, especially those choir lines.

“Growing Like a Cancer Within” uses a horn of some type, once more exhibiting Gustavsson’s knack for combining electronic techniques and acoustic instruments into a work that uses both sources’ inherent strengths; the electronics deal in an extension of time while the acoustics retain a sensitivity of expression often lacking in strictly electronic drone works. “When I Vibrate it Hard” and the bonus track, “Tiresome Tireless,” are a bit more restless than the rest of the album, but only internally. The same sense of still exudes everything here. An evening album if ever there was one, each piece here is as delicate and sensitive as the last, a perfect example of its approach. Even comes with a free digital download, which I guess is all the rage lately. Only 525 copies releases on this though, so count yourself lucky if you are one the chosen few.