 The
slate is a bit blank on Ai Aso. Three albums and a split single, and
there's hardly any info on her on the net. Not unusual for someone who
might be a lone songwriter, strumming away in her bedroom, but her
collaborations make that scenario unlikely. She co-wrote "You Were
Holding An Umbrella," the epic final track on Boris' "Smile," and
recorded a cover of King Crimson's "Islands" for her side of a split
single/picture book with Boris' guitarist Wata (titled, amusingly
enough, "She's So Heavy.") She's also managed to hook up with two White
Heaven/Stars members, Michio Kurihara and You Ishihara, for her latest
album, "Chamomile Pool."
The title of the split single is ironic, as "heavy" is not a word that
will ever come near Ai Aso in any other context. Her outlook is an
exceedingly gentle one, more in line with quietly psych tinged
merchants like Sachiko Miwa and Nagisa Ni Te, than the typical sounds
of her collaborators. On "Chamomile Pool," she brings out the softness
in the Kurihara/Ishihara mix, creating an exceedingly gentle world, one
more placid and blissed out than even Nagisa Ni Te. That's a dangerous
recipe, as ennui can set in quite easily.
It's one thing to know how
to write a gentle song, it's another to keep the performance out of its
way, not
allowing cliché or preciousness to tilt the sound towards
affectation. Ishihara's production keeps things feeling deceptively
minimal, even though careful listening reveals layer upon layer of
lighter than air coloring. I am of the firm opinion that it is always a
good sign when a song starts off with a mellotron, and that's precisely
what "なつめやし" ("Date") does. With a simple three note ascension, it
brings both "Strawberry Fields Forever" and The Zombies' "Changes" to mind, until it's joined by a soft pillow of guitars. Aso keeps her vocals breathy and
almost blank, allowing the delicate arrangements to slowly weave an
atmosphere as vague and blurry as the cover.
"知らないコルチカム" ("Unknown Flowers,") is like a somnabulistic outtake from
Shuggie Otis' "Inspiration Information," with its drum machine and
ghostly vocal. It segues into "間に合う時間" ("Not Yet Late,") another
lullaby that finds itself somewhere near The Velvet Underground's
"Jesus." But the standout,
wisely placed in the penultimate slot, is "みらい" ("Future.") Beginning,
as they all do, with a whisper, it gradually builds its organ, lightly
ringing guitars, and comforting vocals into a slow awakening that
culminates in a spine tingling solo from Kurihara. He really is an
amazing guitarist, somehow managing to take a piercing, buzzing guitar
tone and make it heighten, rather than destroy, a dreamlike sense of
peace. He did this beautifully on "Rainbow," the title track of his
collaboration with Boris, but he's not repeating himself. Whereas
"Rainbow" was darkly calm and seductively sinister, causing his solo to
evoke a psychedelic explosion that seemed to spring from deep inside
the listener's brain, in "Future" his spiky tones read as peaking
ecstasy, a warm ray of sun emerging from behind a soft cloud. It's not
just the climax of the song, it's the emotional peak of the album,
leaving the final track, "ランド" ("Land,") to bring the listener back
down to Earth.
"Chamomile Pool," despite structures, borders on being ambient: the
songs are modest to a fault, instead working from textures and moods.
It can take several plays for any hooks, as such, to emerge from the
fog. But this should not be taken as a flaw: when was the last time you
remembered the details from your daydreams?
---
Available through Amazon Japan
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