Review

The German audio-visual artist Alva Noto’s collaborations with Japanese polymath Ryuichi Sakamoto have always been my top album choices. Their newest work, Summvs, is their sixth joint effort. On this album, Alva’s signature sine waves and glitches combined with Sakamoto’s graceful keystrokes conjure images of Buddhist temples by the riverside. The impression of still figures delivers a sense of remoteness and tranquility.

The album functions like intravenous sedatives circulating through the body. Minutes later one wakes up lying in the middle of a wasteland, or on the top of a hillside, lavishly breathing in the dewy air. Meditation seems required. Alva’s electronic pulse alternately firms and fades along with Sakamoto’s beating and flowing piano strings. When Alva is more prominent, Sakamoto retreats, as if the duo is playing hide-and-seek. Each artist is always looking for the perfect opportunity to intrude or withdraw.

This transcendental composition could be compared to the wall drawings of Sol LeWitt, the cinematography of Krzysztof Kieślowski, or the architecture of Tadao Ando. The similarities lie in the intricate composition combined with a simple and ethereal presentation.

When the piano strings of “By This River” (a song produced by Brian Eno) began to saturate my room with their ambient quality, I was reminded of songs such as “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” and “Amore” (one of Sakamoto’s solo works). “By This River” is the most melodic track on the album, though in it Sakamoto’s involvement can still be viewed as tentative. Presumably leeway is the theme, and therefore each note and riff doesn’t sound out to the fullest. Here light gets into the cracks, but reality overlaps with the illusion.

This is less an album bearing on musical expertise or talents and more a guiding sign to placate the upset, the irritated, and the depressed. It’s music for music’s sake.