Jonathan Coleclough, LETHE

2024 stock. Typically with violinist Rina Kijima, Kuwayama Kiyoharu (aka Lethe) seeks out vast abandoned warehouse spaces in which he improvises around the natural reverb of these spaces using cello, prepared guitar, and found elements from those spaces. For his collaboration with veteran British dronescapist Jonathan Coleclough, Kiyoharu presents dense textures of metal being scraped on the far side of that warehouse, as well as closely observed sounds of miniscule clicks and pangs from the same objects. Coleclough overlays this source material with his signature blur of electric signals that sublimely hover before expanding their intensity through divebomb sweeps and timestretched phase patterns. Both Kiyoharu’s and Coleclough’s sounds progress on parallel tracks up to a dramatic crescendo at which Coleclough’s drone abruptly halts, revealing a frenzy of activity from Kiyoharu dragging items across the warehouse floor. As Kiyoharu quiets his actions, Coleclough introduces deep sea sonar pings and a subtle wash of aerated sound. It’s an evocative, beautiful combination in which both artists have plenty of opportunity to showcase their talents. - Jim Haynes, The Wire