Cosmos
Tears
Erstwhile
In a review published in Wire, David Toop discusses an earlier Sachiko M release on the Erstwhile Records label. Sachiko’s high-pitched frequencies give Toop the intense impression of light, a very corporeal instance of illumination. It=EDs a start.
At some point, high-pitched frequencies do become light. Sachiko M’s work rests at that edge. With the human range of hearing rarely able to perceive tones beyond 20,000 Hz, and sound becoming gradually more and more quiet as it escalates, the tones produced are delicate, fierce, and directly concrete. With all of the violent and harsh music available, there is nothing out there that will go straight to your senses the way the Cosmos album does.
Tears shows Erstwhile releasing another album in its short, but nearly flawless history, that focuses on the dynamic between two unique, yet complimentary musicians. With Ami Yoshida’s percussive voice, disseminating shards of crunches and squeaks somehow completely absent from any musical or language-based vernacular, a sense of depth and dimension is quickly established. Where Sachiko’s sinewave tones cling to the ceiling of the room, Yoshida’s voice squarely punctuates and modulates the pitches, providing context for something heartbreakingly pure.
The balance is perfect. The first and last tracks explore similar tones and timbres, while the second track seems to showcase Ami Yoshida’s contributions. The smacks and bursts of her voice are matched precisely by Sachiko M favoring a contact microphone, providing a necessary respite between the two more actively visceral bookends.
With the fast-paced scraping and quacking, Cosmos reveals unbelievable timbres in the most fundamental instruments. Sinewaves essentially comprise every existing sound in some form or another, and of course, the voice is something definitively primal. Tears is a combination of the lustrous and the dirty. It is a consistently paced, thoughtful, and exhilarating release, dictating in a deft and glaring tone.
Erstwhile Records: http://www.erstwhilerecords.com
