Suishou No Fune - The Wind is Spring - There is a Rainbow in the Sky - Love is Hiding in the Waves

More shining-light-into-corners-I-didn’t-know-existed from An'Archives, this time turning their attention to Japanese duo, Suishou No Fune. Pirako Kurenai and Kageo (just the single name - very on point) have been in operation since 1998 and have turned out recordings for a number of esteemed labels (P.S.F., Important, 8mm++), though this latest set documents a live show from 2021 where they were joined by Matsuedo Hideo and Greymouth's Mark Anderson. I'm surprised to learn that live music events were still in operation in Japan in 2021, a fact that only adds to the clandestine nature of this entire presentation. It's fitting that my first introduction Suishou No Fune should be a live one, since they take some notable cues from Les Rallizes Denudes (an act of course known almost exclusively for their live recordings), corralling a similar sense of otherly mystique and, particularly on the 20 minute opener Frying Like A Bird, ecstatic release. The comparison is fair, though certainly not comprehensive. More instructive, perhaps, are there 90s origins, when they would have shared space and time with Shizuka, to whom they possess a comparable poetic dreaminess, Ghost, an influence evident on the avant folk improvisation of second track A Rainbow Is Floating, and Hallelujahs, an equally spectral and haunting outfit. That this is a contemporary recording is to both the band and label's credit, evidence that the vital Japanese underground isn't merely a concern of reissue culture's realm of dust, but in rude health, alive and, against the odds, also live! Edition of 275.