Oren Ambarchi-Amulet (2014)

Oren Ambarchi-Amulet (2014)

As you know I have been following Oren Ambarchi musical career closely every years, his solo records, his collaborations and side projects, at least for me, Ambarchi is one of the leading men in musical experimentation, and his musical output is really a complete enjoyable experience, although it may result too abstract for some listeners.

You can call Oren Ambarchi a guitarist, but he also plays drums (with Keiji Haino and Jim O Rourke), he is also a composer who has made a great “songs” record, but he is also a minimalist who has made some records with people like Ben Frost and Charlemagne Palestine, and keep in mind that as a minimalist guitarist he amazed the great late Lou Reed enough, for Lou to invite Oren to play guitar in some projects, so calling Ambarchi a guitarist may not be fair and it would be cutting short the respect he deserves.

Amulet is a live recording of Ambarchi music, not a real time experience, perhaps, but an ensemble of his live creations, not a guitar record, not an electronic record, a recording not only his guitar, but a recording of his sound world, one that resonates wildly and one that is also full of percussions and sound waves, one that is comprised of too many different colors and one that open too many doors to impressive sound experiences.

Part I and II of this recording are perfectly interchangeable as they two form a big picture and are not detached one from another, Part I starts with the sound of metals clinking and Ambarchi electronic sound washes and echoes on display in the background, Ambarchi creates an obscure atmosphere aching to the menacing sounds of wind chimes clinking at night, as the wind starts to howl in the middle of nowhere, dissonant sounds start to make their powerful incursion in the mix, but Ambarchi restrains them, using them only for dramatic accentuations, adding great doses of drama by letting the beast growl at his will.

You bet Ambarchi loves sound and random phenomena, as he lets his music roams freely and develop in a natural way, letting the music reveal itself, sometimes sucking the listener into a dark void and other creating extreme discomfort in order to keep the listener alert and paying attention.

Ambarchi started as a drummer, and you can perceive it from his sense of percussions, Ambarchi took guitar by chance, because it was the only instrument left in the room, so it makes sense the random way he plays it, letting it bleed all over, manipulating the sound via his arsenal of guitar effects, Part II is similar to I, but it features more protagonist in certain parts of his electronic approach, as his electronic manipulation buzz from time to time and also there is a drone omnipresent in the back that sometimes grows along with some wild untamed feedback.

Amulet is not a record for all, is not a conscious, time planned and extensively crafted record, it is recorded in an Iphone, ensemble or edited on the telephonic device, it is not a formal record, but more of the experimentation of a moment, the capture of time and space, like Pollock paintings, a close capitation of a bigger picture, it requires patience from the listener, is a piece of life, captured for the posterity, and if you ask me, I would call Ambarchi a sound man.