Haruki – Falling (CD)

Now that we have that covered, we may as well talk about the album itself right? Well the truth is, this bio really does cover the work of Haruki rather well, as ambiguous as it is. Haruki’s work is so open and various, its hard to keep up but keep up I have and been a fan of his work for a long time now. Falling is probably the deepest NKR release to date, maybe one of the deepest records to emerge in a long time. Lots a bass instruments are used such as tuba, double bass, and the ilk, alongside some circuit bent keyboards, piano, stomp boxes, field recordings, among other things. This gives it a wonderfully organic feel and development, and unlike a lot of laptop-based music, its much more live sounding, perhaps an appropriate background being a seedy Brussels bar (I do love Brussels at night). Haruki continues to push open the envelopes around him in the broodiest of ways.

“Whilst Haruki may occupy the same general musical territory as offthesky, there are a few distinctive points of separation, as the guttural bottom end of opening track ‘Shrinking Cities’ makes abundantly clear. The strident and visceral ‘When To Stumble and When To Fall’ also moves into a much more cinematic and (in places) noir-ish sphere. The humming bass tones give this release a weighty punch, and any of the four pieces could sit alongside releases of any exponent of restrained dark ambient with dignity. “So, Now We’re Even’, despite its vindictive name, is a more emotionally even piece – less oppressive than some that precede it, doing a good job of clearing the sound palette before rumbling closer ‘Tall As Tails’”. – Fluid Radio