Suishou No Fune @ The Empty Gallery – 9 May, 2015

Emerging from the fertile Tokyo experimental scene centering on Setagaya based PSF records Suishou No Fune, who comprise Pirako Kurenai (guitar, vox) and Kageo (guitar), have been playing together since 1999. Their musical style is rooted in the post-war psychedelic rock of The Velvet Underground and Les Rallizes Denudes, while also calling to mind the sound of more contemporary “shoegaze” acts like Slowdive and Grouper.

Their name, which translates to “The Crystal Ship”, has its origin in a classic song by The Doors, and their sound also shares in that song’s sense of exquisite melancholy. However, unlike many of their contemporaries, Suishou No Fune manage to take the basic elements of “psychedelic” music appropriated by so many bands – long-form guitar jams, layers of shimmering feedback, heavily processed vocals – and forge a music which is at once utterly personal and evocative of the present. Although the basis of their music lies in Western rock, Suishou no Fune display a distinctly Asian sensibility in their melodic phrasing and use of aural space. Hearing their languidly swirling guitar melodies, bathed in fluorescent clouds of feedback, one is transported to a realm beyond time and space.

Suishou No Fune’s musical aesthetic is yet another example of the “Mono No Aware” popularized by authors like Murakami Haruki, but their music transcends the “Japanese-ness” of this aesthetic category to communicate something more urgent and universal. Like an aural analogue of Wong Kar Wai’s films, Suishou No Fune’s music poignantly expresses the feelings of futility, melancholy, and longing experienced by those living in Asia’s “modern” economies who must daily submit to life under economic and political stasis.

Suishou No Fune will perform a duo guitar set to open the evening, followed by a full set as a four-piece band with the addition of a bassist and drummer. Tea and snacks will be provided for all ticket holders.

Suishou No Fune
Date: 8pm, 9 May, 2015
Venue: The Empty Gallery
Tickets: $100 from www.theemptygallery.com/ticket
More info: live@theemptygallery.com