Tusk Festival 2015 — Reizen

The music of Atsushi Reizen came to our attention via a chance meeting in Tokyo courtesy of Kohei Gomi (Pain Jerk). Immersion in his untitled release for the great PSF label led to further investigation through the live album recorded in Fylkingen, Sweden and his collaboration with Kikuchi Yukinori, the founder of the Test Tone Music label. Despite their social affinity, the musics of Pain Jerk and Reizen operate at opposite sonic poles. Using electric guitar as his primary sound source, Reizen wrings a glacial serenity and velvety stasis from his instrument via deft processing and a delicate unfolding of his compositions (and possibly the influence of his great love of the music of Andrew Chalk too). Reizen could be said to be part of a new generation of Japanese artists that are barely heard or documented outside their native country so far and we’re very excited to bring him to the UK for the first time.