Description
The Hand and the Moon, Part Two shows two unique and captivating improvisers in a setting that enriches both of them. In a conversation that’s only just begun, Tatsu Aoki (bass) and Yea Big (bass clarinet) maintain an extended focus, their instruments a lens through which to view human communication, the growth of community, and the meta-linguistic points connecting cultures and societies.
Tatsu‘s technique on the bass is as likely to stretch out on a joyful groove as it is to curl up in knots of noisy harmonics and scrapes; the tracks can turn without warning. Stefen, who first picked up a bass clarinet in 2021, brings a lifetime of dedicated improv skill to the instrument, initiating whole spontaneous compositions with a single unified gesture of breath, fingers, and full body motion. Together, their sympathy is almost unbelievable.
We often mistake the hand for the moon, tending to get fixated on that which points toward the thing than actually working to view and experience the thing itself. You’re reading these words, and the words are about this music, but the music doesn’t need words. But too: Without words, how would you know where to go? We’re abstract beings. Tatsu and Stefen make sounds, music, which in its own turn points to a kind of love. It’s lovely to hear their interaction, a blessing that these instruments and their total commitment to them facilitate such a rich dialogue.
The Hand and the Moon, Part Two will be available digitally from FPE Records August 16, 2024. Also available, a single cassette collecting both the previously released Part One (shamisen and bass clarinet) and Part Two.
