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CD
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RER HACO3
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Previously released by the Detector label in the US. "Charismatic singer, lyricist and performer Haco came to the fore in the early 80s with the group After Dinner, a sublime incarnation of surreal, direct, and offbeat Japanese/European pop. They featured astonishing swathes of ambient sound, over which Haco's voice soared, before undertaking daring sonic maneuvers; surround sound, backwards/sped up/reversed tape work. These pioneering effects and more are brought up-to-date on Ash In The Rainbow, Haco's most crafted album yet. Her voice is interwoven with the cellos of co-star Hiromichi Sakamoto's 'cellos, starting with a massive bout of what sounds like classical strings and soprano voice forged into ambient before transforming into skewed but delicate Japanese pop, with equal parts of kitsch and experimentalism. The exquisite arrangements feature bowed saw, plunked pizzicato, and complex and seductive noise-scapes. With the help of lo-tech gadgets, songs like 'Channelling' posit a post-human persona, which the likes of Laurie Anderson can only dream of. The whole album is imbued with a magical, Zen sense of wonder, and a terrific economy of means."
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