Navona Records release Lachlan Skipworth's self-titled album. The 9 tracks (55 min, 27 sec) on this release was born out of a question his shakuhachi teacher posed during a three-year period of intensive study in Japan: "Can you satisfy God with one sound?".

At the beginning of each shakuhachi lesson, student and master begin by repeatedly playing a single note on the end-blown bamboo flute. This focuses their minds on core questions of technique

In the first moments of the 'Clarinet Quintet', listeners are drawn into the composers unique sound world with its cascade of angular string entries. Against this, the round cool tone of the main clarinet line articulates, expanding slowly from a single note into the beautiful and at times dramatic melodic line. It sets the scene for the rest of the album, which includes works that reflect traits of the shakuhachi’s honkyoku repertoire; a palindromic reverse-canon evoking Reichian phasing; propulsive, Shostakovich-esque melodies; and meditative explorations in using silence as texture that is indebted to the principles of classical Japanese aesthetics.

While it might not answer the question that inspired it, tracks like 'Piano Trio - II,' may just turn you into an emotional wreck. The string segment here shifts and changes and really does reach deep into your heart and mess with your emotions, a difficult trick to master. The majority of the tracks here will resonate on a spiritual level, which is pretty much all the excuse you need to check it out.

8

Darren Rea