Decay of the Angel by Jeremiah Cymerman
Bandcamp Link: Decay of the Angel
I’ve been following Jeremiah Cymerman and his music for a while.
I enthusiastically wrote about one of his earlier projects, Badlands by Pale Horse earlier this year.
He plays clarinet, I try to play clarinet. He lives with small dogs, I live with a small dog.
When I found out he was raising money to help release a new solo album, I felt like I had no real choice but to support it.
Decay of the Angel stretches what Cymerman had been doing with electronics and his clarinet in Pale Horse.
It is not exactly a solo clarinet album, as there are some overdubs, percussion, and a fair bit of electronics going on, though Cymerman is playing all the instruments, (he also recorded and mixed the album himself).
I’m not exactly sure how to write about Decay of the Angel. A little too close, right? I mean, firstly, I am jealous that Cymerman has made such an amazing record which combines so many things I am personally enthusiastic about. Clarinet, noise, vaguely menacing atmospherics, overtly menacing sounds, electronics, electronic processing of the clarinet, the lyrical quality of the clarinet, bowel loosening sub bass…
It’s an entrancing mix of ugly beauty and beautiful ugliness.
The 20 minute long song, “Decay of the Angel,” is the heart of the album, with Cymerman mimicking the mournful tone of Japanese flute on his clarinet while static fields of sound build and fade around his lyrical playing.
About the name… “Decay of the Angel” is the name of the last book by Kimitake Hiraoka, aka Yukio Mishima. Shortly after writing this book, Mishima and his confederates attempted a coup d’etat by taking over the Tokyo headquarters of the Japan Self Defense forces. He gave a speech to the assembled troops and when they did not exactly enthusiastically embrace his idea of a return to the ideals of Edo period Japan and the divine rule of the emperor of Japan, Mishima went back into the offices and, with the help of his compatriots, committed ritual suicide, rather than live on in a world which didn’t live up to his expectations.
#JeremiahCymerman #DecayOfTheAngel #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack
