Pawn – A Hum Of The Library

Another superb release from Cotton Goods comes delivered in a new sleeve design assembled in customary bespoke packaging, limited to just 100 copies. This release is the start of a new series of projects from the label called ‘The Lending Library’…

Boomkat review:

And so a brand new Cotton Goods outing comes our way, and this time its an EP length set from Tokyo-based artist Hideki Umezawa under his Pawn guise.  Previously Umezawa has released music under the Dynamophone and Symbolic Interaction labels and this new release makes for a great match.

The Book That Is Never Read (Danny Norbury on cello)

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Pawn’s music is incredibly tender and melodic, grounding itself in the faintest residue of acoustic instruments on opener ‘Entrance – Stairs’.  Umezawa processes a gently tuneful ambience from piano and room sounds, fashioning an outstandingly immersive and roomy production in so doing.  Second track, ‘The Book That Is Never Read’ strips away much of the electronic presence, allowing distant piano keys to get tangled up in Danny Norbury’s cello.  Norbury’s guest spot on this track proves to be a real highlight, lending a beautifully lugubrious lead melody.

Quiet Room

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After the rainy location recordings of ‘The Creak Of The Chair’, Umezawa revisits the spatial noises and processed piano submersion of his opening track via ‘Quiet Room’, leading up to the nine-minute finale that makes up nearly half of the disc’s duration.  ’Ventilation Fans’ grounds itself in the sonorities of the air conditioning system referenced by the title but manages to transform itself from a potentially hum-drum field recording exercise into an overtly harmonious drone piece that duets with faint piano reverberations and the ear-pleasing babble of digital ephemera.  As ever with Cotton Goods releases, this won’t last long…

Track List:

01 – Entrance – Stairs
02 – The Book That Is Never Read
03 – The Creak Of The Chair
04 – Quiet Room
05 – Ventilation Fans

Running time:  20 min 16 sec
Music by Hideki Umezawa
Cello on ‘The Book That Is Never Read’ by Danny Norbury
Limited edition of 100 copies
Mastered by Miles at the mill.

Purchase from Boomkat here

www.cottongoods.co.uk
www.myspace.com/pawnbrokerplum