Review: Suishou No Fune | Moonlight

There’s a good reason most of Suishou No Fune’s discography consists of live recordings. Since the late ’90s, when guitarist and vocalist Pirako Kuranai and guitarist Kageo were busking outside Tokyo railway stations as the last trains thundered past into the freezing night, these musical shamans have sought to become conduits between the energy of their immediate environment and that of the live audience.

While they are not the first to reach for this mysterious connection on stage, few have defined their entire approach to music so clearly as they. Each and every recording they release is unique, shimmering with a magic that can transfix wherever the listener happens to be, as if they were in the room.

Standards such as Endless Descent, Your Tears Drop from the Sky, Cherry, and Becoming a Flower are never played in the same way twice. In particular, since 2015, these and other songs have been arranged in a flexible sequence and improvised as two-hour live performance series known as “UNDERGROUND SPIRIT”.

One of these performances was captured in mid-2017 for a double-cassette and digital release titled Moonlight for the US label Sour Tapes.

Apart from Pirako’s distinctive, haunting voice and Kageo’s heart-wrenchingly beautiful guitar melodies, the familiar assumes an invigorating atmosphere and character. These reinterpretations are not something the band plans out or tries to control on stage. The music comes to them from somewhere, and they are open to it, letting it pass through their instruments. The audience responds, feeding it back in a sustained loop of energy. When each piece fades to silence, there’s a feeling of emptiness and loss that a moment of communion has passed.

“That night was a full moon,” Pirako tells me. “We played improv pieces and songs while feeling the light of the moon pouring in. It was a quiet and mysterious night. We were connected to the moon that night.

“In a way, UNDERGROUND SPIRIT is an event aimed at reaching out as Suishou No Fune, of four people being one. We want people in Japan and distant people all over the world to feel to the real air of Suishou No Fune’s recent live performance.”

Whatever emotion emerges might be articulated in a delicate whisper or in a roar of distorted guitar. Both extremes are represented here on this recording.

When each piece fades to silence, there’s a feeling of emptiness and loss that a moment of communion has passed.

It’s untamed and mercurial music. Pirako and Kageo understand that complexity of feeling is often best expressed simply and naturally — just as fantastic geometry dizzies the mind the more you look at the plain symmetry of a sunflower — but also in the sensitivity of their rhythm section. Comprising scene veterans Matsueda Hideo (bass) and Harada Jun (drums), both are sensitive players. With Pirako and Kageo, theirs is fertile soil from which these songs can grow.

Despite being close friends with the late Hideo Ikeezumi of Modern Music, and appearing on some of his Tokyo Flashback compilation CDs, the stars never aligned for a proper album release on his cult label P.S.F.

However, Mr. Ikeezumi had deep sympathy and understanding of what Suishou No Fune was attempting to do with their art from the very beginning. How the band’s profile might have changed had they had a full-length record issued on that label (Mr. Ikeezumi was working on one truly spectacular SNF recording before his illness and sad passing last year) is anyone’s guess.

The Ikeezumi Legacy: “Tokyo Flashback P.S.F. – Psychedelic Speed Freaks”

In any case, with a feature documentary on the band made by a young American filmmaker Graham Roberts nearing completion after a two-year development, perhaps the time has finally come for a wider recognition of these veteran artists.

“In recent years, we’ve tried to play music more deeply. We live and feel various things every day. It is always reflected in the music. We want a richer expression. Especially in the UNDERGROUND SPIRIT, we think you can feel more deeply about the world view of Suishou No Fune.”

This double cassette shows the band in peak form, and is an ideal place for any curious listener to journey into their natural sound world. Improvised moments segue into familiar refrains that feel welcoming. These beautiful melodies and chords, like the rise and fall of a moon-pulled tide, can caress or buffet, but are always affecting. For anybody looking for gentle, meaningful, nourishing psychedelic rock, Moonlight is absolutely recommended.