Matching expansive ambience with environmental sound, Chihei Hatakeyama's new album continues Field Records' exploration of Japan and the Netherland's shared approach to water management.
As with Sugai Ken's 2020 album Tone River, a specific project becomes Hatakeyama's area of focus—in this case the Hachirōgata Lake in Akita Prefecture.
Previously the second largest body of water in Japan, the government ordered extensive drainage work of Hachirōgata Lake after the second world war with the help of Dutch engineers Pieter Jansen and Adriaan Volker. After the project was completed in 1977, reclaimed land took up eighty percent of Hachirōgata Lake's total size. As a result, a new ecosystem was established as plants spread from surrounding areas, bringing with them a wider variety of birds and other wildlife.
Hatakeyama's approach to this unique subject matter took in field recordings from particular locations around the lake—the drainage channels, the Ogata bridge, grassland conservation reserves and other key areas. The aquatic subject matter and sonic material is a natural fit for Hatakeyama's accomplished sound.
From the intimate intricacies of the sampled material to the glacial expanses of droning synthesis and languid guitar, Hatakeyama creates a tangible environment which at once reflects the settings around Hachirōgata Lake, while offering the listener any number of imagined scenes to observe in their mind's eye.
Chihei Hatakeyama (born 1978) is a sound artist and musician living on the outskirts of Tokyo. He has performed for years under his given name and also as one half of the electroacoustic duo Opitope, along with
Tomoyoshi Date. Hatakeyama polychromes memory-evoking soundscapes with various recorded materials of electric, acoustic instruments such as electric guitars, vibraphone, and piano. His releases, , solo or in collaboration with Corey Fuller,
Eraldo Bernocchi, Ken Ikeda, Tetuzi Akiyama,
Federico Durand,
Stephen Vitiello, etc., are on Kranky,
Room40, Under the Spire, Hibernate Records, Magic Book Records, Home Normal, OwnRecords, Spekk (as Opitope), and his self-run White Paddy Mountain.
