Review Summary: Echoes of angels coming back to Earth
David Sylvian is a musical legend. His work spans every avenue music could possibly take through a lense influenced highly by ambient and avant-garde. Through what can only be described as a deeply monk-like awareness of self, Sylvian has crafted a sound that still remains all his own. 'When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima' is a single hour and ten minute track that was intended as the soundscape for an art exhibit called "NAOSHIMA STANDARD 2". This explains its contemplative nature, and thankfully the music on here is profound enough that the piece transcends its intended purpose. This final mix includes more sounds from the island of Naoshima to enhance to composition in the absence of the exhibit.
The following recording is likely to polarize listeners into two primary camps: Those who find this a deeply moving piece of spirtually conscious music, and those who find it to be pretentious sound art that serves no purpose. The reason for this is the music on here is slow and totally innovative. There is no recognizable percussion (yet many percussive elements) and there are relatively short bursts of ambient trumpet, bizarre angelic vocalizations (a first for Sylvian, it doesn't even sound remotely like him), and enigmatic noises and droney analog tones. Often these elements coalesce to create gorgeous soundscapes, but it takes some patience to see how these parts connect.
In many ways this album works like an art piece all its own, and it can be said it is far nore interactive than most music. Fans of Godspeed You! Black Emporer and experimental jazz, you will find a lot to appreciate here, hopefully. The phrasing is often like a extremely slow and odd jazz piece that is being heard in a kind of slowed-down perception of intense microanalysis; the dynamics of every sound and texture is brought into the forefront as being the most important aspects to this music being successful. And thus it succeeds as a kind of spiritual literature as well.
With 'When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima', we see David Sylvian continue his legacy as a modern gnostic of music. Always conscientious and meticulously involved in the final product of his works. Here he gives us a place that seems to float only a few hunread feet above sea level, being carried by echoing angels that have sung its hymns for what has probably been ages. Organic, mysterious, timeless.
