関西在住のギタリスト清野拓巳の二枚のソロ・ライヴ。一枚は照明を消したクラブの暗闇のなか、もう一枚は絵も描く清野の展覧会でのライヴ。一方が収束、一方が拡散運動という風にとらえることもできるが、ガラリと世界が変わるわけではない。画家がひとつのモチーフを出発点として、様々な世界を映し出していくように、これらの演奏もイメージのヴァリエーションといえるかもしれない。それにしてもこれほど音をイメージとして親しんでいる演奏家は滅多にいないと思う。だからこそ、その場の状況に意味をもたせることができる。イメージが細密なのは、むろん、清野が、この世界の微妙な秘密に触れようとするからだが、『波紋』のイメージを逸脱してダイナミックに動いていく様や、どこまでも動こうとしない『ダークシェイプ』でも、いい言葉が見つからないが、健全な即興演奏家の姿勢を感じる。それにしてもそれぞれの音の造形は素晴らしい。ミニマル音楽としてもこれほど自然な世界はない。(青木和富)ー CDジャーナル3月号、今月の推薦盤


Dark Shape
 コンサート会場の照明を落とし、奏者・聴衆ともに闇の中でギターの響きに耳を集中する。既成の音楽受容のかたちを生理的に突き動かした鮮烈なコンサートの記録。さらりと歌の機微を縫うとみせて、発せられた音に反応し、わずかによぎる響きの惑乱に切れ込む。ー CDジャーナル試聴記コメント


Ripple
 吹き抜けログハウスという空間と響き交わすギター・サウンド。内向きに研ぎ澄まされた『ダーク・シェイプ』とは対照的に、響きを放ってその音の場に身を浸し、電気的に音を変調させエフェクトを仕掛けて、その大気のフトコロのうごめきと図りあう。耳が澄む。ー CDジャーナル試聴記コメント


この二枚のCDは沈黙の音楽である。それは不可聴という意味ではなく、しかし静かで、ピースフルな音楽であり、時として中世的な響きですらある。(Frans de Waard) - VITAL WEEKLY(オランダ)

TAKUMI SEINO - RIPPLE (CD by Voice Of Silence Records)
TAKUMI SEINO - DARK SHAPE (CD by Voice Of Silence Records)
Colleague Dolf Mulder reviewed the previous release by Takumi Seino, which he recorded with Antoine Berthiaume 'Arc Beneath The Surface' (see Vital Weekly 517), here he returns with a two solo CDs, recorded in the time span of one month (November and December 2006), in two different locations in Japan. Takumi Seino plays guitar: acoustic and electric (I assume not at the same time). Both places were this was recorded are part of the jazz scene and perhaps one could say that Seino plays jazz. I don't know as I am not really known to love jazz. 'Ripple' with it's one piece spanning almost an hour is perhaps the more jazzy one of the two. But the jazz of Seino is not really jazz of course. The tones are spun out, creating circular textures of sounds, small recurring melodies that over the hour grows in intensity. There is either hectic playing or the use of sound effects, like one of those foot pedal delay thingys to make loop the sound around. At least so it seems. On 'Dark Shape' we find five pieces, which are along similar lines, but more rounded off compositions and perhaps (I have to be careful not to run more corrections every week) a bit more electronics, certainly in 'Vague Figure' and 'Convergence'. But throughout both CDs contain silent music, not as in inaudible, but quiet, peaceful music, at times even mediaeval sounding. A highly stripped down Robert Fripp. Excellent, lonely music - both the player and the listener. Calm and relaxing. (Frans de Waard)


Dark Shape - このアルバムでの清野は、豊かで温かいサウンドでさまざまなムードを伝えてくる。ごく自然に旋律的であり、即興演奏であるとは信じがたい。
- Sunomu(イギリス)

Guitarist Takumi Seino is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and possesses an impressive discography of group and solo recordings dating back to 1992. Here, he presents us with two solo CDs, recorded over the span of one month (November and December 2006), taped at two different events and locales in Japan and released this year almost simultaneously but on separate labels (each, by the way, adorned with detail reproductions of the guitarist's own minimalist oil-on-canvas artwork).

Dark Shape is an appropriate title for what I feel is the strongest of the two. It's five pieces were recorded in total darkness (also the title of track three) at a club in Kobe. Improvised, acoustic guitar, out of which Seino coaxes rich, hearty sounds and conveys many moods. Much is so effortlessly melodic it is hard to believe that it has been improvised. On "Vague Figure" he seems to be using more than just the acoustic guitar listed in the liner notes, some sort of device to feed notes back to him backwards (either that or it was done in post-production). A very lovely work with some surprising breaks in style.

The second CD, Ripple, features both acoustic and electric guitars, and contains a single, hour-long piece entitled "Where the Things Come From". Here, Seino juxtaposes the introspective jazz guitarisms of Dark Shape with more frenzied sound-tweaking - one recurring electronic intervention sounds like a music box getting bounced around the innards of a tornado.

Ripple is on the whole much more free-form than Dark Shape, the guitar strings resonating with high and low pitches as it is struck and picked at from every imaginable angle, with the Pat Metheny within Seino occasionally dropping in smooth riffs.

On the whole, I prefer the one man, one guitar, one note at a time presentation of Dark Shape, but Ripple is a fine showcase for the talents of a world-class guitar player.

http://www.takumiseino.com
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 08:07, 25 Jun 2007