PoiL Ueda: “PoiL Ueda” (2023) – Album Review

Summary

In the 2023 collaboration album “PoiL Ueda”, the experimental French prog band PoIL and Japanese satsuma-biwa artist Junko Ueda create a riveting fusion of traditional Japanese sounds and modern experimental prog. The album’s captivating blend of shomyo chants, medieval storytelling, and avant-garde progressiveness offers a soundscape that’s both unique and haunting. A musical journey clocking in at just 31 minutes, it leaves listeners, seasoned or novice, yearning for more.

Album Info

Introduction

Not for nothing, but here are three concepts that, until last month, remained elusive to my awareness: experimental French prog band PoIL, Japanese singer and satsuma-biwa artist Junko Ueda, and their 2023 collaboration album PoiL Ueda.

And yet, I couldn’t escape all the positive buzz with which I was being inundated about this record. We are talking serious “Album of the Year” talk. Whether it was over at Progressive Ears, ProgArchives, the Steve Hoffman forum, Reddit… we’re talking real buzz, not just empty hype and empty platitudes of ersatz whoopee.

I have little patience and even less tolerance for empty platitudes of ersatz whoopee.

So as I am wont to do, I gave the album a listen over at its Bandcamp page. Halfway through the record, I promptly bought it. PoiL Ueda is something special, a fusion of traditional Japanese music and modern experimental prog that enraptured me from start to finish. I’d love to understand the thought process that envisioned combining Ueda’s shomyo chants (vocal melody patterns, each sung with a single breath), medieval Heike-Monogatari storytelling (based on a 13th century Japanese epic), and her satsuma biwa instrumental majesty (a pear-shaped lute with silk fiber strings) with the freewheeling Western avant-prog of PoiL, but the results are extraordinary.

Review

The album essentially comprises two compositions: Kujô Shakujô and Dan No Ura 壇ノ浦の戦い.

Kujô Shakujô presents a Buddhist chant in the shomyo tradition, one that is engaged as a protective ward against evil spirits. Part 1 runs over seven minutes, mostly focusing on Ueda’s vocals over a thick keyboard drone from Antoine Amera. It retains a deeply hypnotic flavor, enhanced by flourishes of electronica and digital effects, surf-guitar tones from Boris Cassone, and drifting punches of acoustic bass from Benoit Lecomte. PoiL add their own vocal chants as well, almost in a Gregorian fashion.

These elements combine as the enchantment slowly begins to take shape and form before our ears. And in a crashing moment of sudden realization, Part 2 explodes before us. A crisp guitar accompaniment announces itself over drums and keyboards as Ueda continues weaving her vocal spell. A robotic bassline continues the drive, forming a skeletal foundation around which the various melodies interweave and take new shape. Part 3 continues this evolution accordingly, layering in more engaging and innovative musical elements while still maintaining focus on Ueda’s otherworldly chants. Drummer Guilhem Meier performs some stellar work here, reminiscent of Neal Peart and Terry Bozzio in many ways but in a style that feels organic and locked in integration with this entire unique presentation.

There is a meticulous structure to Kujô Shakujô which retains its integrity despite (or perhaps because of) the cosmic atmospherics and rhythms with which it surrounds itself, and the result is breathtaking. Only at its end does the balance of universal order seem to melt into a looser, more improvisational feel. As if the enchantment succeeded, and the monks can breathe a very human sigh of relief.

The second composition on the album is Dan No Ura 壇ノ浦の戦い, which is broken down into two parts on this record. This Heike Monogatari piece is pure storytelling: a retelling of The Battle of Dan-no-ura, a legendary sea battle in which the Minamoto clan defeated the Taira clan. Part 1 opens with Ueda’s energetic plucking of her biwa, adding urgency and intensity to her voice as PoiL adds bass funk, percussive groove, and walls of electronic embellishment to the proceedings. Arrhythmic exclamations of synth wails and thunderous waves of guitar riffs act as raconteurs in an of themselves, developing tone and underscoring the frenetic, chaotic naval intensity.

Part 2 opens with a softer but no less intense or immediate tone. Perhaps the Taira initiative has broken under the reemergence of the Minamota with the defection of General Shigeyoshi, the suicides of the broken Taira forces and their young Emperor, or the attempted destruction of the enchanted imperial regalia. No matter; the exquisite music delivers an impactful atmosphere of honor, military defeat, and a deeply mystical-sounding note of the inexorable nature of fate.

And in closing…

I say this too often in my reviews, but how I wish this album could have gone on even longer. I was absolutely riveted from start to finish with PoiL Ueda. The record is a scant 31 minutes in length, but every second of its runtime executes itself with commanding immediacy and hypnotic musical content. You don’t even have to be a big Rock In Opposition, avant-prog, or medieval Japanese satsuma biwa fan to gain admittance to this show, because quite frankly I wasn’t really much of any of them. Now all I crave is more of PoiL Ueda. And that, dear Park guests, is the hallmark of any great album.

What similar albums does ChatGPT recommend?

While it behooves me to remind my readers that everything you just read is 100% Mills, let’s ask our friendly neighborhood AI for some similar album recommendations.

Divers – Joanna Newsom (2015)
Fans of intricate storytelling and unique instrumentation will find a kindred spirit in Newsom. Her harp-driven compositions and idiosyncratic vocal style blend medieval undertones with a contemporary sensibility.

To Be Kind – Swans (2014)
Delving into sprawling, ambitious soundscapes, Swans’ post-rock intensity and experimental urges are a journey of their own. Their layered compositions can provide a similarly enveloping experience for those who appreciated the vast sonic tableau of “PoiL Ueda.”

You Want It Darker – Leonard Cohen (2016)
While thematically and instrumentally distinct, Cohen’s profound lyricism and atmospheric sound can resonate with those who seek depth in music, much like the narrative threads woven into “PoiL Ueda.”

U.F.O.F. – Big Thief (2019)
This band’s ethereal soundscape and mystical undertones offer an otherworldly listening experience. Adrianne Lenker’s evocative songwriting and vocal delivery can captivate listeners in search of something familiar yet refreshingly unconventional.

Bubu of Sierra Leone – Ahmed Janka Nabay (2010)
Introducing listeners to Bubu music, an ancient Sierra Leonean genre, Nabay’s album is a fusion of traditional rhythms and electronic beats. A beautiful bridge between the old and new, it could resonate with those who admire the bridging of musical worlds in “PoiL Ueda.”

Output from ChatGPT, OpenAI to Mills, 7 August 2023.