the psych-folk of

Aritomo

single (2007), LP (2009)

Bracken Rec.   Aritomo : We Become The Cloud And/ Circular Flower -single- (JAP,2007)****

I have noticed Aritomo’s albums before. They were packed in beautiful hand painted covers (a bit too expensive for me, although the prices were ok for hand made covers), and the music was described as psychedelic folk. How else could you describe his music. On the first track it sounds as if Aritomo’s singing style is a bit weird and is almost unstable. Also the pickings, flute and backing whispery breathy female voices almost organically moves around, under and in the songs. This is confusing in a psychedelic way, with structured and improvised (then blurring) movements. Weird. With the second track with violin and guitar and voice it is more clear how Aritomo’s psychfolk version is different from Western typed psychfolk, and have something of a flavour of old Japanese theatre and poetry. This is followed by instrumental pickings, humming, sounds again very psychedelic like a cloud of notes hanging over. The third movement uses a different melodic expression, but with pickings, strange harmonies, violin improvisation, it remains confusing. For such a short EP it was a fine introduction to a new world, of that of Aritomo. He’s a fine illustrator too as the drawing of the cover shows.

Some LP’s will be reissued soon by BLL Records !

Audio: "We Become The Cloud And..." (or here or here), "Circular Flower"

Audio and info : http://www.myspace.com/aritomomusic

Homepage : http://www.geocities.jp/seethemorning/kowaikomorebi/

Label info : http://www.brackenrecords.com/p26.html & http://www.myspace.com/brackenrecords 

or on http://www.blrrecords.com/prod/1944/we_become_the_cloud_and..._the_circular_flower.html

Description on http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/...next album->

Bracken Rec.   Aritomo : The Flying Garden -LP- (JAP,2009)***'

Aritomo’s fourth album (LP) was already sold out before I was able to review my preview copy. Aritmo’s really has a distinctive unique style of singing and songs which I can describe as if being in a sort of trance-inducing state of slumbering, penetrating into deeper realms of semi-demented dimensions, a poetic and artistic area, sometimes dangerously hanging in between a few notes, using his voice and breathed singing like an instrument, on the level of a guitar with space in between certain notes, reciting clearly but with a nearly mumbling effect, lowering the listening into deeper brain waves, a near-dream state, where all the other instruments, 3 different guitars and a sitar are texturing with the same effect, with slower stumbling slide notes, clear pickings and a few droning oddly tuned strings on sitar, between recognisable and just a state of being in the dream state, where a different sort of poetry exists, a different beauty perhaps, still fitting well with the Japanese language. This is weird, an outsider sort of beauty, and definitely psychedelic. Not sure what else to say. It’s uniqueness you might like or not but it surely is different.

Info & audio : http://www.myspace.com/aritomomusic

Label info on http://www.brackenrecords.com/ & here

Other review : http://www.normanrecords.com/records/108486

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