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Old 06-17-2010, 06:34 PM   #37 (permalink)
Janszoon
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19. Cornelius—Point (2001)

One thing you owe it to yourself to do in these dark, stark, terminal times is to go for a nice walk in the woods. Listen to the birds. Inhale the smell of the leaves. Absorb all of the tiniest details. Just enjoy Earth's flora and fauna while it's still around to be enjoyed. On your way home, in your blissful state of nature-induced contemplation, give a listen to Point.

There really is something about this album that's evocative of a peaceful day in the forest. Birdcalls and burbling streams intertwine with soothing, yet often somewhat funky music. In some other context a lot of this stuff would come off as cheesy but Keigo Oyamada, the sole creator of Cornelius' lush musical landscapes, manages to make it work. A lot it comes down to his attention to detail. It's readily apparent listening to his music that he's a guy truly in love with the minutia of sound. Everything is recorded and mixed just so: tight electronic percussion perfectly complimenting precise guitar strumming, beautifully harmonizing vocals bleeding into swirls of guitar noise. Even the album itself hangs together well as a whole, and that's including all of its more dissonant moments in with the consonant ones. Somehow the entire thing winds up leaving you with this peaceful, beautiful feeling.

The song I'm posting below, "Bird Watching at Inner Forest", is an excellent example of Oyamada's attention to detail. Just listen to the way a recording of birds randomly chirping quickly metamorphosizes into a melodic loop that becomes the backbone of the entire song. Listen to how tight the interplay is between the strumming of his guitar and those constantly changing drum patterns. And most amazingly listen to how, at about the 3:30 mark, he actually manages to use the sound of fluttering wings in place of a drum fill.

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