Failed Celestial Creatures by David Grubbs & Taku Unami.
Label Website: Failed Celestial Creatures
Guitar Duets which take their inspiration from short stories by the Japanese author Atsushi Nakajima.
One extended song, one medium song with vocals, one medium song without vocals, and a few short songs.
The extended song which opens the album is the eponymous “Failed Celestial Creatures”. It starts very quietly, (almost too quiet for a commute soundtrack,) and as the dialogue between the two guitarists builds, likewise it gains in volume, culminating in a burst of feedback interplay at around the 15 minute mark that wouldn’t be inappropriate on an Earth album.
The second song, “The Forest Dictation”, includes a poetic recitation about forest creatures that takes a bit of a turn towards the macabre and the philisophical.
The four pieces which close out the album, “Threadbare 1-4” are little gems of shimmering guitar interplay.
The following included quote also seems to be of import to the music in question. “Before becoming disciple to the Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang in the novel Journey to the West, Shā Wùjìng was cast out of heaven, exiled to earth, and transformed into the river monster Wujing, one of the thirteen thousand monsters in the River of Flowing Sand, plagued by philosophical questions and doubts: ‘I am a fool.’ ‘Why am I like this?’ ‘I am a failed celestial being.’”
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