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Reviews

Taiko Saito — Tears of a Cloud
(Bandcamp Trouble in the East Records, 2023, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2023-08-20

Tears of a Cloud Cover art

I first encountered Taiko Saito on her Futari duo recordings with Satoko Fujii (Beyond and Underground). Saito’s imaginative exploration of mallet instruments provided a wealth of intriguing sounds in conjunction with Fujii’s piano, bridging the realms of composition and improvisation — in many ways, Saito’s aesthetic is very much the mallet equivalent of Fujii’s. With Tears of a Cloud, Saito presents a set of nine pieces where she’s on her own using just vibraphone and marimba. While these two are collectively referred to as “mallet instruments,” in fact they both consist of sets of tuned blocks of wood (marimba) or metal (vibraphone) which can be made to vibrate in many different ways. Striking them with mallets is most common and gives them the name, but there are other options, of which Saito takes full advantage — she uses a wide variety of mallets and sticks, including ones she’s made herself, to elicit a wide variety of sounds, and she sometimes uses a bow to bring out eerie, ethereal tones. (Check out her video of the title track for an example of her technique.) So Tears of a Cloud, in spite of being recorded using only these two acoustic instruments, presents a wide range of tones, moods, and timbres. Some passages are quiet and serene, while others are so busy and furious that you’d swear there are two or three musicians joining her — how can two hands produce so many notes? The pieces are improvised, though the label “jazz” doesn’t seem appropriate. She has a superb thematic sense, so even when she’s not playing preconceived arrangements, there’s a sense of structure and consistency to the pieces, and each has its own identity. In short, Tears of a Cloud is a fascinating journey into the sonic possibilities of the marimba and vibraphone, and also an entertaining listen.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Taiko Saito

More info
http://troubleintheeastrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tears-of-a-cloud

 

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