Jojo Hiroshige, Haruo Ueda

Five Elements finds Jojo Hiroshige in collaborative and contemplative mode, his guitar set against the electronics of Haruo Ueda across a suite of pieces built around the natural elements.

Best known as the founder of Hijokaidan and Alchemy Records, and as a self-appointed King of Noise, Hiroshige has always kept a quieter, more exploratory practice running alongside the wall of sound. Here the two players circle the elemental themes patiently, Ueda's electronics opening fields of shifting texture and resonance into which Hiroshige threads long, deliberate guitar tones. The confrontation of his other work gives way to something closer to dialogue.

It is a record that rewards close attention, the sound of an artist most often associated with extremity working instead with restraint and space. Issued by Alchemy Records in 2015.