The unfortunate back-cover blurb of this disc proclaims, "
Rien
is a journey, a road-movie as well as a soundtrack." One imagines that
Winter & Winter
felt the commercial necessity to package
Akchote
's project in the guise of a non-narrative movie soundtrack (as well as providing a booklet of intriguingly cinematic photos by
Daida Moriyama
). However,
actually seems to be his attempted entry into the electroacoustic improvisational world pioneered by
AMM
and occupied, in 2000, by an abundance of low-volume improvising musicians such as
Polwechsel
and
Gunter Muller
and of labels like
Erstwhile
Mego
.
The results are partially successful. Joined by computer manipulator
Erik Minkkinen
and sampler/turntablist
Andrew Sharpley
of
Stock, Hausen and Walkman
,
does produce some rich swatches of sound, snapshots devoid of traditional melodic or rhythmic vocabulary but evocative of the random sounds of quiet urban nights. On previous releases,
had displayed considerable chops on his instrument, both in his own compositions and in his deconstructions of standards by, among others,
Ornette Coleman
. Here he admirably sublimates his technical prowess to the more ambient concept of the pieces, producing sounds bearing little relation to those traditionally associated with the guitar, but owing much to the extended techniques developed by
's
Keith Rowe
. If the outcome is less powerful or organic than that created by longtime practitioners of the genre, it's at least a step in a potentially rewarding direction.
One wonders, though, whether or not this is a shoe that fits. The most successful track on the disc is the final one,
"Pousse,"
where
's guitar is easily recognizable as such and the song structure and melodic content is the clearest. Perhaps his essential nature is more traditional than he lets on here. ~ Brian Olewnick