RUDI ARAPAHOE
Echoes From One To Another
SIC015
Symbolic Interaction 2008
12 Tracks. 49mins58secs

Wide open spaces, delicate and precise soundscaping and moving atmospherics all define this somewhat mysterious and haunting delivery from Japanese imprint Symbolic Interaction. The fruit of the labour of Rudi Arapahoe, Echoes From One To Another is an ambitious piece of work on more than one level. Inspired by Dante Alighieri’s fourteenth century epic poem The Divine Comedy, which takes the narrator through the various stages of the afterlife as seen by Christians at the time, the album, which stretches over fifty minutes, is in itself a stunning and memorable journey through stark atmospheric textures and emotions.

Describing himself as a composer, sound artist and storyteller in equal measures, Arapahoe is credited here for concept, sound design, field recordings and ‘antique electronics’, and is supported by a host of additional musicians contributing piano, guitar, harp, violin, synths and vocal performances. While utterly difficult to sum up in just a few words, Echoes From One To Another evokes at time the medieval brushes of Dead Can Dance circa Aion or the cinematic melancholy of Max Richter’s The Blue Notebooks for instance, yet it reaches beyond any genre and define a space very much its own.

Right from the opening moments of I Close My Eyes And Float To The Ceiling, with its flickering harp whirlwinds which momentarily gather into tight molecular formations, the listener is drawn into a world of sweeping beauties, dense emotions and spiritual undertones. Delicate melodies sip through the pores of Ahapahoe’s elegant sound formations to concentrate into wonderfully ephemeral emotional sequences. Shrouded in vast ambient clouds, alive with found sounds and sonic details, the compositions, while very much individual, ripple endlessly as newer pieces are introduced, creating a radiating impression which gives this album its multi-faceted appearance. Whether through the meditative vocals of To Gather Flowers and Echoes From One To Another, the quietly uplifting soundwaves of Dionysian Bird, the crystalline melodic droplets of Every Time I Sleep or the romanticism of Conversation Piece and Last Words Unspoken, each new track, scattered with found sound residue, seem to add a layer of humanity and reinforce the overall tone of the record.

It is impossible to do Echoes From One To Another any favour in just a few words, such is the scope of the project and the mastery of the execution, and one can only partially lift the veil on a piece of work which keeps on revealing new facets with each new listen. Rudi Arapahoe may still be an unfamiliar name, but with such a strong, impressive and fascinating record under his belt, he should soon gain the respect he deserves.

4.8/5

Rudi Arapahoe (MySpace) | Symbolic Interaction