Naoaki Miyamoto-Me No Tawamure

Graced with a black and white photograph of a countryside backroad, Naoaki Miyamoto's Me No Tawamure matches the eloquence and simplicity of the cover's aesthetic. Everything sounds light and delicate, certainly resplendent, which is rather odd considering the forty-two minute album is composed of thin strands of high-pitched feedback and silence. The result is almost akin to a more elegant redefinition of ambient music, only here, the result is more minimal and improvised. All these physical characteristics force the listener into seeking out one of two methods of listening: the first being the more analytical and typical "onkyo" technique and then the other allowing the loose, seemingly decomposing music to slip in and out of the background and the ears. Expectedly, the two different modes of listening garner completely different results, but the unexpected aspect of suggesting either/or is that both are equally rewarding but in entirely different ways.

By choosing the more clinical way of listening to this guitar feedback solo, the musical gestures are amplified and one notices a more unraveling structure, as though Miyamoto intended for the piece to gradually lose momentum in segments, which is a very effective strategy to calm the listener. However this raises a contradiction, because the feedback itself is rather complicated in terms of texture. Close listening brings to light slight granulations and clicks beneath the surface of elongated tones. As you're being calmed you're intrigued by the always changing state of these otherwise static gestures. The result is really quite beautiful. The latter method of listening suggest a more loose, dreamy atmosphere, like fragments of a dream slipping through your ears. The tones sound rather ambient on their own, so by allowing the timbres to take control of your ears rather than the other way around, you're transported to forests and other scenes akin to the one plopped on this cardstock cover. Again, very splendid and strangely fascinating. For fans of those familiar with the genre who have been intrigued by the idea of onkyo redefining ambience, regardless of having been less than impressed with the results or not.