- The Terepa EP isn't Kouhei Matsunaga's first telepathy-based record. On June 11, 2008, Matsunaga, Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio and Autechre's Sean Booth each switched on their gear in a different part of the world and began recording. With no live feed or prior discussion, the three relied on their telepathic skills—or, more accurately, a mixture of chance and musical intuition—to guide them. The compiled performance was released in 2010 as the sparse, mysterious 3. Telepathics Meh In-Sect Connection. Matsunaga's second attempt is grander, with seven musicians, including the likes of Laurel Halo and Julia Holter, recording in Los Angeles, Berlin, Osaka and Paris. Once again, though the personalities involved are big, the results are subtle and impressively coherent.
Given the element of chance in its performances, the EP's success hinges largely on post-production. Whoever mixed its two tracks took care to prevent any one element from dominating, which leads to the dizzying sensation of listening to several pieces of music at once. The mood of "8th August 2014" is restrained but tense, its wispy violin drones and closely mic'd percussion joined by synth globules that hover past like stealthy UFOs. Odd protruding sounds, like the bass belch some minutes in, suggest a more imminent threat, but that danger never fully surfaces. Instead, we creep through a succession of ghostly landscapes, until, somewhere after the 12-minute mark, a party horn adds a hint of absurdity. "28th October 2014" is shorter and darker, distinguished by lavish piano flourishes occasionally poking through the murk. Haloed with unstable drones, the result is a surreal change of space, as if gliding past the window of a music college's practice room.
TracklistA1 28th October 2014
B1 8th August 2014