Album I

The deeply rooted Tokyo-Cologne axis turns out Von Spar's 2nd union with Eiko Ishibashi, elevated from cameo on their prior LP to full collaborator along with fellow improvising aces Joe Talia and Tatshuhisa Yamamoto on sticks in a suite of cool krautische fancies on a line between The Necks, Kakuhan, To Rococo Rot. Building on a creative kinship seeded in Cologne's Week-End Fest that resulted Isihibashi's vocals on 2019's 'Under Pressure' LP, the new septet of Von Spar + Ishibashi & friends now arrive at the naturally breezy, expansive conclusion of 'Album I + II'. The eight part album is split into two parts on vinyl and knits motorik impulses to shimmering synths and guitars in subtly incremental contractions and expansions driven by instinct, up to a standout 33 minute finale where everything opens out and upward in a way that the preceding parts only half prepare one for. In elegant stages of dusted dual drumming weft with woodwind and panoramic synth in Pt. I, thru more heads-down charge of 'Pt. II, the languid shuffle of Pt. III, and noirish allure of Pt. IV, they begin to hint at the remarkable closer with something approaching Kakuhan's sound in a more restive Pt. VII'. That 'VIII' is a really strong way to close the set, diffusing the drums to vapours in a wide-eyed opening sequence that expands up and out into a sort of gyring, motorik, spiritual jazz kosmiche beauty.