Animism

Album review

Forrest Fang's ninth solo release finds the composer continuing his particular exploration of instrumental sounds with sources from all over the place, a seemingly casual but clearly well-worked-on power of creation. "Islands in the Sky" is perhaps the first prime moment where everything simply clicks in remarkable fashion, with the feeling of a stately gamelan orchestra shifting into a distant percussion loop and texture that perhaps inevitably calls to mind his sometime collaborator Steve Roach's work -- but then is suddenly transformed again by the combination of a beautiful violin part, serene guitar tones, and further skittering, percussive washes like a gentle rain. This is all done while the majestic progress of the track proceeds without a pause, suffusing the entirety of the experience much in the same way a prime hip-hop production can reassemble all its own parts for maximum impact. Much of the album suggests, in an abstract yet still striking way, the world of Hayao Miyazaki's films, a sense of flight -- apparent from the start with the song title "Tailing Wind" -- and majestic contemplation of the power of the natural world. Heady stuff, but Fang's desire throughout Animism is one of engagement, where quietly ominous two-note bass parts, sweet electronic textured float, bowed and struck instruments, and much more suggest a constant evolution, even as the album moves inexorably toward the concluding "Resting Point." That Fang has found such a productive home on Projekt Records isn't surprising -- not when a song like "A Tributary Unwinds" can call to mind much of Black Tape for a Blue Girl's '90s work -- but importantly, he has long since established his own strong musical voice.
© Ned Raggett /TiVo