KENT WATARI - Subtraction In Spiral - LP - Black Vinyl [FEB 27]

LP - Standard Edition Black Vinyl. 

Japanese experimental sound artist kent watari debuts on Phantom Limb with new album subtraction in spiral, coding deep sonics to quantum-percussion and collapsing, post-IDM glitchscapes based on a meticulously constructed metaphysical thought experiment.

“This work is centred around a very personal philosophical model,” writes kent watari (b. Tokyo, 1993). “I have constructed a metaphysical model of thought, employing concepts from philosophy and science. This thought model centres on a recursive structure. The infinite is compressed into the finite world of reality, beginning with a scene where “something happens or has happened”. Thought then unfolds through every possible development before scattering once more into the infinite beyond. Then, it returns once more to the juncture where “something happens or has happened”.

With this deep conceptual investment in their compositional work, watari employs information-overload polyrhythm and nano-particles of electrical impulse to mimic minute neuro-existential events. New album subtraction in spiral is the result of months of developmental practice, echoing a thought cluster stretched out into a compositional narrative. Its sound design crackles with percussive clamour and reverberates in soft granulation across a tour of metaphysical chambers, sometimes intense and at others dreamy.

Key moment “nervefield flickering” feels abstracted from the tangible in its complex matrix of interlaced simulacra. A metaphysical landscape machine-drawn from synaptic impulses and fragments of sonic imagery half-remembered from real life. An unexpectedly sonorous arpeggio eventually zones into the space, relentlessly pursued by a battering shudder that crushes every frequency into square wave discord. The piece is about the evolution of personal identity, both emotionally and structurally. “In my thought model, after something occurs, the world first acquires a foundation of matter. Then, when that matter forms a system open to the external environment, the mechanisms of life emerge within it.”

The bouncing ball of “first sediment” does not belong to Bucephalus, but to an artificial construct that leaves a trail of neon plasma about a dense negative space, as if an entire MRI laboratory has been bitcrushed into a black hole. watari’s invitation to follow it through the tunnel gives us a breathless perception of infinity, reality, and real-time epistemology. “Our perception contains what are called 'qualia' – pre-verbal 'feelings'. When we see the colour red, we possess no means to describe that 'redness itself'. I wonder if qualia might be the 'leftovers' that couldn't be contained when the world's infinity was compressed into the finiteness of perception,” they write.

kent watari is a musician based in Tokyo, Japan. Their primary activities centre on composition, arrangement, production, and drumming. Their key works include advertising music, the soundtrack for the anime LINK CLICK, and collaborations with singer-songwriter Kaho Nakamura and guitarist Ichika Nito. As a drummer, watari has also participated in projects including the contemporary pop band Tokyo Shiokouji and the solo project of arauchi yu.

Tracklist: 

A1. Critical Point
A2. First Sediment
A3. Nervefield Flickering
A4. The Morning Chimes Ring Out
A5. I Saw The Ghost

B1. The Experience of Margin
B2. On The Subway
B3. Protoflux