CD – 12K
Here is some really sweet and delicate instrumental music by Illuha, the moniker that hides Corey Fuller and Data Tomoyashi, two musicians who articulate gentle and winding sequences, operating mainly from their base in Tokyo. However, it was in a old church in Bellingham, in Whatcom county (Washington, U.S.A.) that they created “Shizuku”, a project with low-key envelopes and an impact amplified by the majesty of the spaces in which the recording was made. The six extended tracks are steeped in yearning melancholy with evenly overlapped sound layers; sensitive, trembling and touching. Counterbalancing the piano virtuosity and arpeggios is a background of drones, field recordings, small percussion jumps and precise rings. The sound captures were made using quad-microphone techniques, effective in capturing the natural acoustics of the spaces, rich in echoes produced by the wooden floor, the many glass windows and by the furniture present in those sacred spaces. The sounds of the pipe organ, vibraphone and dulcimer (a string instrument derived from the Persian santur, used in Irish and Romanian music), together with an accordion, a Rhodes piano and an analog synthesizer, are skillfully mixed in fascinating, soft textures; tonally warm and comforting. Far from any narrow genre classification, here the substance is of crystal clear purity, fully involving the listener.