"All the tracks are delightful, but my favourite is the one Mat Eric Hart conjured from sounds recorded around Mount Haguro, a holy mountain which is full of shrines to half-forgotten deities. You hear water, the sound of footsteps, wind in the trees and suddenly the most extraordinary haunting cry. It’s probably one of the ascetic devotees of the Shugendo religion who live on the mountain blowing a horogai, a conch-shell trumpet blown to aid meditation. But to my English ears it sounded thrillingly like Tennyson's “horns of Elfland faintly blowing”. It’s a burst of something rich and strange, which comes as a shock amidst so much quietly ordinary beauty."
Fieldwave, Vol. 2 is the second release in Nonclassical's Fieldwave compilation series curated and produced by broadcaster and sound collector, Nick Luscombe, bringing together artists with field recording at the heart of their work. This second volume focuses on the sounds of Japan, with tracks from Japanese musicians and from British artists who have gathered recordings via trips to Japan.
"Haguro Shugendō" is composed of recordings made by Mat Eric Hart during his time in Dewa Sanzan, Yamagata Prefecture in Northwestern Japan, documenting the Yamabushi of Mt. Haguro as part of a field project supported by the British Library Sound Archive.