Hiroyuki Tanaka lives in Japan and is a farmer by profession. But once he gets home, in the evening after work, he loves to sit on the computer to exercise his passion for producer under the name of Charles AD, connecting, albeit obliquely, to all those DJs and composers who have been dictating the canons of house, ambient and electronic music in Japan for decades now. But there is something immediately sweet and innocent in his music, a descriptive inspiration of a sound landscape artist who knows how to polish the beat with downtempo slowdowns and impressionistic psychedelic drones. His Instagram page, moreover, is a curious mix between sowing bulletins and electronic music posters – and it is right here, among celery and pianos, that “West Pontoon Bridge” sets sail towards the horizon.
Try to imagine a house soaked in autumn rain, new age hints left in the salty air, robotic techno rifts covered by the cold mist that rises just above the edge of the sea: between delicately bouncy rhythms and ruminant naturalistic inserts, “West Pontoon Bridge” it is another wandering journey signed by 100% Silk to be undertaken in the quietest moments of the day.
The work however shows a careful rhythmic sequence, extricating itself between slow and faster movements, in a continuous up and down for feet and brain – although it is certainly almost impossible to imagine an idea of ”dance” for an album like this. It is therefore with the serrated rhythmic textures of “Coming Winter” that listening begins as placid as a carp pond koileaving the synths the task of gradually gathering like clouds on the horizon; so, when the following “Night Park” attacks a dark Theo Parrish-style swarming, one has the impression of observing ambient techno acid foam bubbles.
Whether it is the thoughtful bass of “Praise” and the enchanting sensorial bath of “Dreaming Boy Swimming In The Ocean” and the accompanying “Ocean Floor”, or the excited sunny textures of “From August” and “After The Rain”, Charles AD serves us continuous versions of a sea and mountains that are always soft and delicate. On “Bump Into” we imagine him behind the console to entertain their friends on Saturday evenings, then again in a gallant version from cocktail lounge on “Like A Puppet”.
Instead, towards the end, the album glides into a purely ambient “Deep Valley”, then finally announces “End Of Winter” with delicate new age gusts – it really makes you think of “Glass Horizon” by my colleague Precipitation, a work inspired by a living room in another Japanese seaside resort on Sado Island.
Of course, with a total duration of sixty-eight minutes, “West Pontoon Bridge” is very long, perhaps guilty of excessive repetition in certain situations, as well as sometimes appearing too silent and uniform. But the charm also lies in this slow shipwreck of order and reason, in the ability to float contrasting atmospheres such as ambient and house with a production stratification that is never strident, but rather always attentive to suggestion. It's like touching waxed foliage and soft soil, smelling fish and mushrooms in the air, primordial synesthesias translated into a curious retro-futurist digital world. Charles AD, the farmer with the mixer in the barn – how can you not love him?
24/10/2024
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
