- Shimmering, ambient sound collages.
- The Tokyo-based artist Chee Shimizu is a curator at heart. As a DJ and a record store owner, he's shared unusual records from around the world under the umbrella term "organic music." But his own works are few and far between—in the press notes for this new releases on ESP Institute, the label mentions a demo sent to them over ten years ago that still isn't finished. In lieu of completed tracks, Reconstructions offers something more freeform and expansive. Made from recordings of rehearsals for a live festival set by Shimizu and Japanese guitarist Takahiro Matsumura (AKA miku-mari), the EP comprises two 15-minute collages that explore the hinterlands of Shimizu's organic music: field recordings, guitar, bells, piano and other striking sounds.
The record begins with wind chimes, eventually collecting into a squiggly synth soundscape complete with weird filters and processing effects. You'll hear rainsticks, snippets of drumming, hard-to-place plucked strings. It's impossible to tell what is sampled and what isn't—Shimizu plays four CDJs stacked with percussion samples and field recordings, while Matsumara handles other instruments. This lends the record a dreamlike quality, with vague shapes that never cohere no matter how hard you concentrate. The second piece has more form to it, with heavenly glissandos and even something of a repetitive melody, but it's still impressionistic and obscure, abuzz with spine-tingling sound.
The improvisatory quality of Reconstructions is its greatest attribute. Instead of a long-fussed over composition, the LP shows all the ideas and sounds that Shimizu has collected over the years spilling out naturally, with the help of a kindred spirit in Matsumara. Shimizu's long-awaited solo debut might not be exactly the record all his fans were waiting for, but it's strange and beautiful on its own terms, highlighting the sounds and ideas that shape his notion of organic music.
Tracklist01. Reconstruction 1
02. Reconstruction 2