This album's concept is that it is music 'inspired by' Popul Vuh's 1972 L.P 'Hosianna Mantra'. It was originally released as a vinyl album in 2006, consisting of two long tracks. The first 200 copies came with a bonus 7", containing two more shorter pieces of music.
This C.D release compiles these four tracks into a very satisfying & unified album.
As for it's musical relationship to the Popul Vuh L.P, the phrase 'inspired by' allows Kawabata, as an artist, free reign to take that 'inspiration' into whatever musical realm that leads him to. None of this actually sounds like anything on the Popul Vuh album. At a few points, it made me think of a couple of other Popol Vuh albums - 'In Den Garten Pharaos' & 'Sei Still Wisse Ich Bin'. It doesn't sound like those albums either, but it's just that at points there's a similar feel & aesthetic.
Popol Vuh's 'Hosianna Mantra' features very different instruments than this album, it being mainly centred around piano & female vocals, whereas Kawabata's album features stringed instruments. & only has very faint vocals on one track.
I wondered if perhaps Kawabata's album was intended to be, if not a soundalike, at least 'in the spirit of' the original Popul Vuh album. However, after listening to the two albums back to back, the music on each just felt very different to me. To my ears, the only thing the two albums have in common is that both of them could be categorised under the very wide umbrella terms of 'progressive / experimental' & 'mellow' (though out of the two albums, Kawabata's one is much more mellow than the Popol Vuh one).
Perhaps the only real 'connection' is that, I think it's reasonable to assume that, if you like Popul Vuh, you'll probably like Kawabata's album (& vice versa).
As listeners, we don't actually need to make any 'sense' of what the possible connection between these two albums is. Kawabata is obviously following the transmissions from his own musical cosmos, and that 'inspiration' has led him to make this music. We only need to appreciate that music on it's own terms.
Taken on it's own terms, I found the music on this album to be astonishing. That word 'astonishing' came into my head on the very first listen to the C.D, and after numerous subsequent listenings, I still feel that's the most appropriate word.
There are three things that astonish me about the music on this album ~
(one) The music is so gorgeous & soothing. It is a creation of great beauty.
(two) It is such a unique sonic vision. After more than three decades of actively seeking out the most obscure & original music, this still sounds to me like nothing I've ever heard before. After all this time, it's wonderful to be able to hear something that still sounds 'fresh'. The only thing it remotely makes me think of of is some other Kawabata albums, but that in itself is a sign that, even if only to my ears, Kawabata inhabits a unique musical universe.
(three) According to the sleeve notes, this album was recorded in a mere two days, & consists only of 'electric guitar, bouzouki & sitar' (though, as I said, there is also some vocals on one track). This is a 'home recording'. I've never really known what Kawabata & Acid Mothers Temple's recording facilities are, but from having listened to a lot of their albums, I can only presume it's nothing fancy.
One of the reasons this album astonishes me is that, with a mere three instruments. Kawabata manages (in just two days) to create something that has as much depth & variety of texture as any Popul Vuh album (who had access to a vast range of instruments, & would have spent weeks in the studio making any of their albums).
This shows that Kawabata has a real musician's soul, with an incredible ear for timbre, texture , counterpoint & musical 'colour'.
In fact, if I hadn't read the sleevenotes, I probably wouldn't have guessed what the instruments were. The unique style of playing & processing the sounds makes it very difficult to recognise what instruments are being used.
The bouzouki shimmers with harmonic overtones (like a 12 string guitar), the sitar is mainly bowed (& therefore sounds more like a sarangi), and the electric guitar is played with a metal slide through effects, giving it a constant tone, again full of rich harmonics (& if I wasn't familiar with that particular guitar sound through seeing Makoto & AMT live on many occasions, I might have just assumed this sound was coming from some form of keyboard or synthesiser).
Playing is generally very restrained (& all the better for that), & despite the depth & variety of textures, most of this could still be classified as 'minimalist' music. In fact, the segments I like best on this album are when there's only one or two layers of sound. This album never gets 'cluttered' (at the very most, perhaps four layers at a few points) but I think the best passages are the most 'minimal'.
The first track 'Scarlet Phenomenon' (20.11) is built on that wonderfully processed sliding electric guitar tone that I previously mentioned. A beautifully shimmering stringed instrument (presumably bouzouki) shortly enters, playing a repeated motif.. After about 12 minutes, some bowed sitar comes into the mix, adding some subtle deep bass sounds. There's a graceful shift in the mix, as the electric guitar drops out & the bouzouki layer slowly returns, this time played back in reverse. This track is musical heaven for me, & is so lovely it brings tears to my eyes.
The second track - 'Hosanna Mantra' (19.29) starts with a deep multi-harmonic drone (that I presume is bowed sitar). It reminded me of something from Sheila Chandra's 'ABoneCroneDrone' album, to the point where I actually expected her voice to come in after a few minutes. Another layer of more melodic bowed sitar is added, plus an occasional short 'twang' of high pitched sitar. There's a faint 'thud' at some points, of what sounds like a tympani drum (but almost certainly isn't).
Another wonderful track, which I could listen to again & again, & never tire of it.
The third track - 'Door Of Your Enigma' (7.04) starts with backward bouzouki (again sounding like a shimmering 12 string guitar) with some very faint abstract folky sounding vocals. Shortly into the track, I'm not even sure if the bouzouki is backwards or forwards (I think there might be two layers ?). There are occasional notes from what sounds like a keyboard or synth (but obviously isn't, given the list of instruments used).There's an air of 'mystery' about this track, that I really like.
The final track - 'You Are All Of My Love' (7.08) is just one layer of a stringed guitar instrument (whether it's the bouzouki again,or untreated electric guitar, I don't know) playing an intricate piece that sounds like a jazz or classical guitar number. It suffers a little bit from some distortion on the recording at a few points, but is otherwise a wonderful way to end this album.
Taken as a whole, this is a fantastic album (even the cover art is perfect). I am so happy I bought this, My assessment can be summed up in the one word I used earlier. This is an astonishing album.
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