Nazoranai

Keiji Haino (guitar, vocals & synth), Stephen O'Malley (bass guitar) & Oren Ambarchi (battery). Recorded by Chris Fullard at Gaîté Lyrique, Paris 8th November 2011. Edited by Oren Ambarchi in Sydney January 2012. Mixed by Joe Talia & Oren Ambarchi at Chinatown, Melbourne 8th February 2012.Mastered by Joe Talia at Chinatown, Melbourne 17th April 2012. Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin April 2012. Artwork: Lars Teichmann 'Bathing Girls' & 'Nymphos' (detail, 2010, photos by Annette Apel), 'Fever' (detail, 2010, photo by Martino Gerosa). 'Oren Ambarchi has been an active colleague, we have collaborated on a number of Sunn O))) projects, and also Sunn O))) related projects, film scores, tours, meals etcetera over the years. He brought us to Australia for the first time in 2004 (see Soma010 notes), we toured Israel with Attila Csihar as Gravetemple Trio in 2006. Oren introduced us to Haino-san in 2006 when Sunn O))) played FIMAV festival in Victoriaville Quebec (Oren was in the ensemble on that tour), in a stinky locker room (the venue was a hockey rig). Had no idea what to expect but a few hours later he was on stage with us. It was one of those what now moments you never imagine happening having been a fan/follower of Haino's playing, concerts and recordings over the years. 5 years later somehow we ended up as this trio. Haino, Oren and I were all in Holland for one reason or another and decided to try it. I played bass for the first time on stage with this group. Maybe it shows but the idea was a power trio backing up Haino-san, with a lot of amplification. We had the chance to repeat the trio twice again so far, and this recording comes from a concert in Paris November 2011. It's hard to describe the lessons through realtime communication in music with such a master of form, but needless to say they were much different than what I was expecting and beyond! Proof again that expectations lead to dead ends. Was a most challenging experience in real-time music. I feel incredibly honored to be part of this trio'. -(Stephen O'Malley)