“Matching the almost shamanistic sound with visuals every bit as mystical, collapsing the apparently divided spheres of human, natural and spiritual experience onto a single plane.” That’s how we described single ‘Jomon’ and its accompanying video by Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit back in January. The song was taken from Aura, a full-length album out now via Erased Tapes which draws from the vast array of Noit’s influences from Japanese classical music Gagaku and operatic performers to Bulgarian and Gregorian chanting, not to mention avant-garde experimentalists and pop vocal styles.
Since the release of the album, Erased Tapes have been sharing a series of reworked songs as standalone singles, with the likes of Matthew Herbert and William Basinski reimaging Hatis Nori tracks. The label connected with producer Preservation (Mos Def, RZA, MF Doom) while he was living in Hong Kong to work on his album Eastern Medicine Western Illness, and he set out with the intention of preserving Hatis Noit’s singular vocal style while “bridg[ing] sonic time.” Fat Possum duo Armand Hammer were enlisted too, and their version of ‘Jomon’ brings two cultures together with searing power. “It’s such a miracle to me,” Haiti Noit explains, “that, thanks to Preservation and his powerful rework, Armand Hammer could connect this energy back to their own bold and beautiful culture and history on the other side of the globe. I could not stop the tears.”
Aura is out now via Erased Tapes and available from Bandcamp.
