ALBUM REVIEW: Eiko Ishibashi – The Dream My Bones Dream

Drag City

Released: 16.11.18

An interesting mix of industrial depth and fairly heavy beats, with an overlaid foreground of some almost angelic vocals at times, and spoken interjections at others.  Intriguingly funky, Iron Veil is a stand out track, Eiko’s looped vocals and omoshiroi lyrics in, possibly Cantonese, mashed over SFX and raucous trumpet/sax. 

This album epitomizes eclecticism, and while the repeated theme of discordance is perhaps not for everyone, it does not define the overall experience.  Definitely a grower, the more I listen the further I am drawn in.  Like Japan itself (where I live), modernity is in symbiosis with tradition; this is Ando’s concrete juxtaposed with Renaissance beauty, and worth revisiting to discover its complex beauty.