Prolific purveyor of experimental, ethereal psych music and frequent Jim O'Rourke collaborator Eiko Ishibashi is back with her sixth album since setting out on her solo path in 2006. Trading in grandiose sophistication and insistent grooves with plenty of room for quirks, the sound of The Dream My Bones Dream immediately calls to mind Stereolab mixed with the slinky trip-hop-isms of Cibo Matto.
Also an accomplished producer, Ishibashi directs a distinct sonic vision throughout Dream's too-brief runtime, even though there's plenty of eclecticism at play from track to track. Her beautiful, airy vocals drift like gauze when they're called for, and when they're not, the Japanese composer is content to let her instrumental skills speak for her — "A Ghost In a Train, Thinking" very capably evokes early Tortoise.
It's a marvel of her skill as a musical thinker that motorik instrumental near-prog can sit so comfortably alongside a ballad as classy as the title track — which would have almost sounded at home on Laura Mvula's debut — and make sense when followed by the sinister krautrock wave of "Tunnels to Nowhere."
The sheer breadth of styles Ishibashi incorporates might well throw the average listener for a loop, but if an exceptional talent employing any tools she sees fit to make the sounds she hears in her head excites you, The Dream My Bones Dreams contains a wealth of sonic treats worth exploring.
(Drag City)Also an accomplished producer, Ishibashi directs a distinct sonic vision throughout Dream's too-brief runtime, even though there's plenty of eclecticism at play from track to track. Her beautiful, airy vocals drift like gauze when they're called for, and when they're not, the Japanese composer is content to let her instrumental skills speak for her — "A Ghost In a Train, Thinking" very capably evokes early Tortoise.
It's a marvel of her skill as a musical thinker that motorik instrumental near-prog can sit so comfortably alongside a ballad as classy as the title track — which would have almost sounded at home on Laura Mvula's debut — and make sense when followed by the sinister krautrock wave of "Tunnels to Nowhere."
The sheer breadth of styles Ishibashi incorporates might well throw the average listener for a loop, but if an exceptional talent employing any tools she sees fit to make the sounds she hears in her head excites you, The Dream My Bones Dreams contains a wealth of sonic treats worth exploring.