Alan Licht & Aki Onda Everydays
Guitarist Alan Licht and Cassettes Operator/multi-media artist Aki Onda, are close and frequent collaborators, improvisers […]
Guitarist Alan Licht and Cassettes Operator/multi-media artist Aki Onda, are close and frequent collaborators, improvisers who have taken a great deal from 20th-century compositional branches like music concrète and minimalist tape loop experiments. Everydays finds the two accomplished friends trolling through five lengthy pieces of grittily textured, slow-developing interplay. The best pieces, like the dolorous “Chitchat” gain power from their spaciousness and length, where Licht’s wiry acoustic guitar is gradually taken out by the undertow of Onda’s rippling loops. Throughout, their sound art landscapes sometimes feel like the aural equivalent of burbly underwater footage, before technology was able to fully illuminate the murky deep, and while this murkiness sometimes yields great results, it also leaves portions of the record feeling a bit unfocused.