IKUE MORI

Of Ghosts and Goblins

Genre: MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT

MP3
FLAC
WAV

Boomkat Product Review:

Prolific no wave legend and improv deity Ikue Mori's latest solo statement is, shockingly, almost drumless, a kaleidoscopic, synth-bent ode to the life and stories of British writer, translator and teacher Lafcadio Hearn, who helped introduce the Western world to Japanese culture and literature.

Mori's story is fascinating, starting as a drummer in DNA and then spending the next few decades drawing a broad line through the noise and improv scene, even developing her own unique musical language with the drum machine. Hearn's story is equally intriguing. He was born in Greece to a Greek mother and English-Irish father, but was abandoned as a child after moving to Ireland, where he struggled to fit in, getting blinded in one eye in the schoolyard at 16. So he escaped to America, tracking from place to place and getting caught up in the political difficulties of the era: he lost his first job as a writer, at the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, when he married a young African American woman in violation of Ohio's anti-miscegenation laws, finding himself in New Orleans where he documented local proverbs and Creole recipes. After a brief stay in Martinique, he left for Japan to work as a correspondent and teacher, marrying a Japanese woman and assuming Japanese citizenship.

Masaki Kobayashi's legendary Japanese horror film 'Kwaidan', based on Hearn's compendium of Japanese ghost stories 'Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things', just one of his books that attempted to demystify Japanese culture for the West. His work even remains popular in Japan, thanks to his archiving of folk history that might otherwise have been lost. His story is great subject matter for Mori, who attempts to comb through his history and unravel his gaze as a stateless European fascinated, but not intimidated, by Japan. She references his obsession with insects (he famously included a non-fiction study in 'Kwaidan') on 'Mushi no Uta (Insect Song)', juxtaposing her wobbly, operatic electronic gestures with cricket-like chirps and high-pitched whirrs, and elsewhere spends time figuring out his mindset and getting to grips with the haunted mood. On 'Luminous Shadow', plasticky plucked strings are set against eerie, distorted wails, and 'The Eternal Haunter' sounds as if it could have oozed from a mangled VHS tape.

MP3 Release (9)