Immersive Movements of Avant Electronics

Reverse Image / Thomas Bey William Bailey
Tokokawa
(Fourth Dimension)
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As co-collaborator with Malaysia's Reverse Image, Thomas Bey William Bailey, states on the sleeve "This collaborative release presents three immersive movements of avant-electronics full of unexpected tonal contrasts and shifts in intensity. Powered by modular synthesis, “concrete” assemblage technique and a pervasive desire to work with the full spectrum of sound".  It's hard for me to top that description as this is certainly both intense and immersive. The link to Musique Concrete is apt as these are definitely assemblages of sounds and tones, sometimes harsh, as opposed to 'songs' in the traditional sense.  They are crafted to evoke a sense of ease/unease and a disconnect from the mundanity of your daily grind in a way that a hummable pop or rock song simply cannot, and never will.  We are talking a form of aural alchemy here, and you will need to place your pre/misconceptions and conditioning to one side in order to open yourself up to the different level of hearing this requires.  The three pieces (or 'movements' to give them their more accurate description) evoke an altered state if approached with the right attitude, and express a willingness to move away from the restrictive Western song structures and pentatonic scales  and repetitive formulae we have all become hypnotised by as the drug of choice for the masses.

Not to put too fine a point on it, that is a wonderful thing, and Reverse Image (who are also responsible for Fallen Sun, whose 'Beyond The Flat Earth' album we reviewed here back in March) and Thomas Bey William Bailey, do an excellent job of it, with the three movements presented here, 'Ama-No-Gawa', 'Nurikabe' and the 26 minute long 'Jouhatsu Suru Yuurei' translating from Japanese as 'The Milky Way', 'Plastered Wall' and 'Evaporating Ghost', with the album title, 'Tokokawa' translating as 'Forever Useful'.  I'm not sure those are 100% correct, but with the title 'Evaporating Ghost' you get the nature of what they are aiming for here.  This is another intriguing and challenging release from Fourth Dimension, who present these so well and favour the physical over the digital, resulting in an immersive experience all round.