Robert Takahashi Crouch’s new album, Jubilee, is a crucible. Buried deep within its molten confines are remnants of an existential crisis and conflict, melted into a simmering sonic narrative. First offering, “Reconciliation,” shifts the viewpoint, rising slowly and purposefully from the fire. Modulating drones grow and contract, building up the nerve to plunge into the depths, to find the glowing core and extinguish its traumatic flicker once and for all. Crouch’s tones are pensive, each rotation adding strength and stature to the building track. It’s a beautiful passage, if not deceptive, knowing that the final station is beyond the pale and waiting for each and every one of us.
Tyler Hubby’s film for “Reconciliation” recalls the story of Tuli Kupferberg (as told to Ted Berrigan) about jumping off a bridge and surviving. The slow, blurred movements echo the aural reflections with a haunted, visceral calmness. “It reminded me that certain structures have an ability to imprint in our memories and imaginations,” Hubby shared, The Beaux Arts beauty of The Colorado Bridge in Pasadena both contributes to and distracts from its legend as a melancholy site, while the incongruous, retrofit fencing installed along the walkways tells a story of desperate utility.”
Eventually, the video fixates on the bottom of the bridge where the end is called to Kupferberg and eventually calls to us all.
Jubilee is out via Room 40 on October 15th and can be pre-ordered below.
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