Koji Asano • January Rainbow CD

Koji Asano • January Rainbow CD

After an album of string duets (Spherical Moss Factory) and a hiatus that lasted a few months, Koji Asano came back with January Rainbow, a CD comprising a single 64-minute piece. January Rainbow marks his return to the piano which he hadn't used on record since Preparing for April. The music consists of a piano piece, tender and absolutely tonal, buried under a layer of harsh noise. At first it sounds like listening to a piano recital on shortwave radio: the signal is not clear, it phases in and out. After a while the electronics settle into their Merzbow-like harsh noise mood and remain like that. The sound manipulation has left the upper register of the piano sounding like distorted gamelan. Occasionally we hear children screaming in the background. At times they sound playful, at others horrified.

1 January Rainbow 63:56

SOLSTICE Records