Sawako

Madoromi sounds like the perpetual ending of every Broken Social Scene song. Charming, half-hushed and half-rushed, with throaty whisps and erratic jerks puncturing each moment, shimmering in the sub-waking state of consciousness with which Kato Sawako apparently shares her name. Towards its end, the surrealistically titled opening track "August Neige” occasionally breaks through the tornado’s silent eye for some free flowing air, drawn out strings, volume swells and plucks. Rhetorically, "It’s Not On Purpose” speaks more directly to Sawako’s artistic vision. Madoromi, her third LP, comes within a year of the Cagean "2.4GHz Scape,” which she developed in the form of an incidental installation, innocuously hijacking signals broadcast from basic electronic devices. Given the massively broad applications of such an ambitious and experimental undertaking, it’s kind of hard to appreciate and assess the quality in the type of understated songwriting and subdued instrumentalism heard here. Curbing experimentation is tiresome and hard.