THE GEORDIE APPROACH WITH MICHIYO YAGI – Live At Superdeluxe
Discus: DISCUS113LP
Chris Sharkey: electronics; Ståle Birkeland: drums; Petter Frost Fadnes: alto saxophone, electronics; Michiyo Yagi: electric 21-string koto, 17-string bass koto, electronics
Recorded October 14th 2017 by Håkan Holmås at SuperDeluxe, Tokyo.
There cannot be many koto players who have bucked tradition and amplified this beautiful instrument and having done this, pushed the amplified sounds through all manner of electronic effects. The risk of doing this is to change the instrument from one with a rich tradition in Japanese music into something which is a pale imitation of western guitars. Yagi is a musician who not only understands the nuances of the instrument and the subtleties of the traditions surrounding it, but has also a sense of adventure and confidence in her abilities to be able to create new and mesmerising sounds that uncover new potential in the instrument while keeping its distinctive sound. To showcase this potential, she needs musicians who are also adept in sculpting and carving sound into rich, atmospheric patterns. The basic modus operandi of The Geordie Approach (which, I suppose might be the ‘approach’) is to allow spontaneous creation to develop as they play. I was reminded in several places of similarity between this approach and that taken by The Necks (particularly when the latter shift from acoustic terrain into their more electric sounds). This is not to claim any musical similarity because The Geordie Approach tend to aim for layered, rhythmic structuring. While their music tends to move between quiet and more quiet (rather than quiet-loud, for readers with an appreciation of grunge rock…), they also have an ominous, rather threatening quality to the ways in which the pieces unfold. Having a well-established approach, it could have been a risk to open this to a fourth musician, particularly one as individual as Yagi. And yet, right from the opening notes, the four players clearly are working with the same ideas, in the same direction, and creating such a crystal-clear exposition that it is impossible to believe that the set was improvised.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Discus: DISCUS113LP
Chris Sharkey: electronics; Ståle Birkeland: drums; Petter Frost Fadnes: alto saxophone, electronics; Michiyo Yagi: electric 21-string koto, 17-string bass koto, electronics
Recorded October 14th 2017 by Håkan Holmås at SuperDeluxe, Tokyo.
There cannot be many koto players who have bucked tradition and amplified this beautiful instrument and having done this, pushed the amplified sounds through all manner of electronic effects. The risk of doing this is to change the instrument from one with a rich tradition in Japanese music into something which is a pale imitation of western guitars. Yagi is a musician who not only understands the nuances of the instrument and the subtleties of the traditions surrounding it, but has also a sense of adventure and confidence in her abilities to be able to create new and mesmerising sounds that uncover new potential in the instrument while keeping its distinctive sound. To showcase this potential, she needs musicians who are also adept in sculpting and carving sound into rich, atmospheric patterns. The basic modus operandi of The Geordie Approach (which, I suppose might be the ‘approach’) is to allow spontaneous creation to develop as they play. I was reminded in several places of similarity between this approach and that taken by The Necks (particularly when the latter shift from acoustic terrain into their more electric sounds). This is not to claim any musical similarity because The Geordie Approach tend to aim for layered, rhythmic structuring. While their music tends to move between quiet and more quiet (rather than quiet-loud, for readers with an appreciation of grunge rock…), they also have an ominous, rather threatening quality to the ways in which the pieces unfold. Having a well-established approach, it could have been a risk to open this to a fourth musician, particularly one as individual as Yagi. And yet, right from the opening notes, the four players clearly are working with the same ideas, in the same direction, and creating such a crystal-clear exposition that it is impossible to believe that the set was improvised.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
