Patrick Shiroishi: Descension
Author: Daniel Spicer
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Patrick Shiroishi (ts, effects, v) |
Label: |
Thin Wrist Recordings |
Magazine Review Date: |
June/2020 |
Media Format: |
LP |
Catalogue Number: |
TW-O |
RecordDate: |
24 November 2016 |
A leading figure on LA's free-improv underground, saxophonist Shiroishi burrows deep into his own family history with a meditation on the WWII camps for Japanese-American citizens where his own paternal grandparents met and married.
Across four improvisations, recorded in single takes in the order presented, Shiroishi pushes hard against popular conceptions of what a sax player is capable of. ‘Once There Was Only Dark’ sets up a grainy roar of raw electric drone and knife-edge feedback out of which a lyrical phoenix arises, sounding a little like a wilder incarnation of Colin Stetson's cinematic brooding. ‘Grandchildren of The Camps’ lays out dreamy loops smeared with a big-toned tenor maximalism, while ‘Tomorrow Is Almost Over’ disguises amplified sax as distorted electric guitar, spewing filthy noise-puke doused in lumbering feedback and blood-curdling vocal screams. Finally, ‘Above The Black Heavens Is Endless’ layers monastic vocal chants in sweet harmonies, topped off with a curiously soulful falsetto refrain. It's a cautiously hopeful finale for an intense and unforgiving album that draws disturbing parallels between US atrocities both historical and contemporary.
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