Takashi Masubuchi, Ayami Suzuki, Tomo - Suikyō

First time meeting of improvisatory performers Takashi Masubushi, Ayami Suzuki and TOMO for this forty-minute long presentation for the ever-reliable An'Archives. The sharing of a name aside, it's fitting this should arrive the same week that Damo Suzuki passes, for the trio very much keep the torch burning for the FREE MUSIC the man was insistent upon channeling. Melding together guitar, harmonica, sparse electronics and hurdy-gurdy with Suzuki's glossolalia-like vocal interjections, Suikyō possesses a near-psychedelic quality, whirring, droning and then ascending around a folkish, American Primitive-styled mantra, finding some space between Sun Araw astral projections and the dark night of the soul motifs of Jack Rose (have i just described Six Organs of Admittance?). While TOMO's hurdy gurdy makes for a unique addition and Masubushi's guitar does at first appear to hold centre stage in the record's opening parts, over time it's Suzuki's voice that really comes to the fore, a kind of wordless Grace Slick anchoring and then driving forward the swirl forming behind her. Incredible, really, this was the first time the three had played together, as they display a smartly intuitive ability to both intersect and leave space for the other. Suzuki described the experience as "hedonistic". From the perspective of those listening in, it's a straight up heavenly consort.