猫 シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h introduce us to a rain-stricken world in the…

猫 シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h introduce us to a rain-stricken world in the opening track. Cars move to and fro, the faint sounds of life emanate before a huge bass sound crashes through everything. Nothing moves, no signs of worry or panic from this waking world. One can almost hear the street signs swing slowly. As a bass hits once again, a low, half-sentient, half-digitised yawn envelops the scene. Is the very foundation of the city quaking? Has some creature of sublime size and force drifted into view? Suddenly, glittering keys play out across the scene, a deep drum sequence starts to crawl along. A warm, synth sound curls up towards the sky, a cautious tranquility settles over the rainy scene like a lace blanket as we begin our journey through 猫 シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h’s world.

Dawn over the Metropolis reprises the large yawning behemoth of the first song. It’s incomparable size emanates from somewhere deep over the horizon. The city remains still as ghostly reverberations trickle down its alleys and streets. The sublime nature of the track leads us to believe that whatever awakening is happening, this place has remained dormant for quite some time. Feedback pulses slowly towards us. Creaking shifts into tuneful rises as an elusive synth slips in and out of existence. The fading stops, and again, nothing but the endless cascading of rain.

The surroundings themselves seem to slip into tonality at the start of Sector 131. The rain begins to find form and tune as it falls, the tiny droplets turning into glimmering, tuneful bells. Small pools of water enable even smaller sprites to dart around the shallow puddles. The aching pads ease in once again. The scene breathes a deep, longing emotion that would be impossible to capture in a classic, structured song. The atmosphere is palpable. Great choirs of civilians seem to float around, shouting in unison only to be dashed to the wind in the next instance. A solitary car plots a course through the bleak landscape as the track ends.

Lost Promises brings a low, menacing bass sound to the fore. A breathy piano dances effervescently, bringing with it another dramatic drum sequence. But the rhythmic periods never draw the two artists away from their world-building mission. The percussive elements seem to hang there, somehow part of the simulacrum we too have become a part of. The synth melody sounds as if it were mere reflections of sunlight breaking through a cloudy euphoria. Any melancholic swelling at this point cuts straight through the listener. Enveloped in a world of tranquil reminiscence, haunted by heartbreaking melody.

世界の果て starts with a stalwart string sound running through the track. Rising triumphantly as thunder cracks miles away. And then, hope. A trill of melody rolls across the rooftops toward us. It’s light filling the scene, cautious, but full of warmth and security. The winds blow, and the rain seems like nothing anymore. The artists lift us delicately towards the sunlight. An angelic euphoria slowly approaches. This small melodic sequence breathes so much relief and support to the listener that it’s hard not to hold your head a little higher than the last, uncertain 15 minutes. Birds begin to sing, the rain shines in warm light. And the very last trill is filled with so much hope and optimism. 猫 シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h’s intention must be to hark to some sort of semi-corporate, semi-religious reckoning with this. Possibly a nod to an overarching force supplying us with this salvation world. The landscapes former characteristics have been completely cleansed.

Building a Better World brings more ambivalent pads, the sense of complete unease is gone. There’s a closeness now about the ambience that surrounds, a normality. As if you were awake in the early hours, with no impending plans or objectives just the sneaking aura of calm and emotional gratification. A voice bleats from a distance, somewhat cheery and jovial, it’s high frequencies bouncing instantly off of the the surrounding walls and towards us. Great scales of notes shift like amorphous clouds. Is this the slow beginnings of the better world? An innocence now resides in the sound that was not there before, or if there, was smothered by the great yawns and groans of a dark force. The feeling of ease is administered, a warbling synth slides and pivots its way across the soundscape. Another voice, this time a male’s bandies around the space. The pads and synths disappear. And the voice leads us through a transition.

Hiraeth V closes in with a rough, low sound feeling it’s way through the rain. It arrives in front of us, glowing with slightly tarnished brilliance. Behind it more sounds grow and develop into a chorus of beautiful noise. They drive through the patter of rain, providing us a sonic guide-rope to follow. Sounds are constantly blooming in this world. Constantly in flux, yet at the same time strangely stalwart, until 猫 シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h guide them away from us. The mind deviates from hearing painstaking detail, to absorbing it as if it were sonically pleasing simplicity. The sounds grow constantly, finding their way into every corner and pocket left empty by the tracks before it. Timid, naive piano keys dance through the wall of noise, unsure of their place. The noise builds, only to drop out, leaving us alone again with tears of god raining down upon us for what seems to be a lifetime.

Anxious tones start 進化. The listener instantly feels unease at the thought of a reprisal of the world shown to us in the first few tracks again. A warm, quaking sound fills the floor beneath us. Echoes of life begin to appear around us, luminescent chiming flickering through the low, hunkered sound. The distant noise loops, perhaps to call us to follow them. Some sort of stability, some catharsis exists further than our ears will permit us to hear. The listener bathes in the beauty, regardless of whether the world has ended, or is being rebuilt.

Kids play as the rain falls in closing track A New Life Awaits You. A shifting, glacial sound moves almost straight through the listener. It plays a tune of melancholic simplicity counterpointing the sublime nature of what has come before. Everything feels very near, as if we were now listening to the sounds of our own soul. Like the world has infiltrated a part of us, embedding heartbreaking melancholia within. The sound falls away. We hear crowds eddying to and fro. A recorded voice thanks us for our attention. A flat sign off melody plays from tinny speakers. Those around us converse, individuals call out to their friends and family. The voice begins again, guiding the crowds, and the listener stands for a minute in the throng of the movement, trying to come to terms with what they have just experienced.

Listen/purchase physical edition here: https://hiraeth-records.bandcamp.com/releases