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Ambarchi/O'Rourke/Haino, "Tima Formosa"
Recorded live in January of 2009, this collaboration is one that is more organic than a lot of what Oren Ambarchi and Jim O’Rourke are known for: no laptops here, the former only provides guitar, the latter piano. Meanwhile, Keiji Haino acts as the focus, providing his idiosyncratic vocals with flute and electronics, with the result sounding like ethnography from another planet, spiritual sounds that simply are extra terrestrial.
 
Sequenced as two long pieces with a short, single track bit of connective tissue, the entire work is a slow and mostly sparse affair:the first and last few minutes of the album are extremely close to pure silence.During the opening minutes of the first piece, only the most subtle of guitar amplifier noise and feedback appear, with the occasional scrape of guitar strings or muted tone to arise.Ambarchi keeps his guitar restrained, allowing it to feedback tentatively as O’Rourke plunks minimally on his piano.Eventually Haino’s voice comes in powerfully, oscillating between heavenly highs and demonic growls, often within the same few seconds.Between the vocals and the organic, but unnatural sounds, it feels like a ritual recording from another dimension, with Haino channeling spirits and demons from who knows where.
The short middle piece is pretty rudimentary in structure compared to the other two, with twinkling, music box piano and buzzing guitar static as Haino’s vocals are up front and commanding, with no restraint given, nor requested.While the surrounding two pieces are a combination of voice and instruments, here it is all about Haino’s distinctive voice.
The final section of the disc is more textural in nature, even with the abrasive electronic drone and flute that will send any nearby dogs running in a panic.The sound is tentative overall, with the found object percussive rattling giving a distinct texture before everything launching headlong into the second half.Haino cranks up a drum machine and Ambarchi gets more aggressive with his guitar.The primitive percussion via machine and higher intensity instrumentation again conjure images of medicine men and animal sacrifices, but with a distinctly alien edge, aided and abetted with Keiji Haino’s pained and processed vocals.Again, like the disc began, it ends near silence, with only the most minimal of piano notes and sparse vocal interjections before fading to nothing.
Taken as a whole, this three way collaboration resembles more of a thought out and deeply composed work more than a live collaboration, but that can be chalked up to the individuals included and their extremely well developed sense of improvisation.It actually sounds far removed from most of their individual work as well, so the entire proceedings are rather unique in their approach, creating a sonic world all its own.
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