Suishou no Fune – “Prayer for Chibi ” – [Holy Mountain]

Suishou no Fune (soo-ee-sho no foo-nay) formed as a duo of female guitarist/ vocalist Pirako Kurenai and male guitarist/ vocalist Kageo in Tokyo in 1999. They have gone through a number of bassists and drummers since then, but with ???Prayer for Chibi??? they are back to the original duo. According to their website: ???Chibi was a love cat of Pirako and Kageo. He died for a disease on February 13, 2007. This album is a memorial album to him.??? (You gotta love those Japanese-English translations.)

Japanese poetry set to improvised psychedelic dream music is the name of the game here, which is probably of no surprise, but on this two disc set they take their time and stretch out, way out. Eight tracks averaging 15-minutes each. All tracks have their own character, but sometimes the differences are very subtle. Most tracks start very slowly and quietly; in come the plaintive wailing vocals; more slowness; then a building wall of feedback as a crescendo toward the end.

I.1.???Prayer???(23:19) Bells; space; at 14-mins. strumming w/ an echoey lead.
2.???The Rain Falls???(7:07) Much plaintive vocal wailing.
3.???Till We Meet Again???(16:30) Slow build to heavy feedback; at11-mins. quietness.
4.???Becoming a Flower???(14:28) Pop-like strumming; feedback from 8-12-mins.
II.1.???Resurrection Night???(16:05) 16-mins. of solid feedback.
2.”In the Clouds???(14:53) Loose, bluesy improvisation.
3.???The Stars Know All???(12:00) Out there; we???re talking other galaxies.
4.???Cherry???(19:09) The simplest, most beautiful track.

That Chibi must have been one helluva cat.

–Jawbone