[sic] Magazine

CVLT – CVLT Volume 1

CVLT

February 12, 2016 | by : Luke Bradley

I would like to write a review about a compilation released by the label CVLT entitled CVLT Volume 1. However, my hitherto indifference towards reviews and critiques of art has recently transmuted into downright antipathy and, as such, my desire to actually write a “conventional” review is effectively nil. Therefore, in order to highlight this work in some way without descending into the banality of either describing the music objectively (physically), or relying on analogies and comparisons to summarise a sentiment, or serving up excessive trivia about the artists, I must interpret the sounds contained within in a more esoteric and transparently subjective manner, and in this instance I have chosen to use haiku as the conduit.

Obviously, the content of the haiku are as much about myself as they are about the music, but this is true of most reviews, only here I have embraced this reality and took it to an extreme degree. Considering music is inherently abstract in emotion, and any method of inferring imagery from the sounds is patently personal, as long as I stay roughly within the confines of the form (I’ve upheld the 5-7-5 inritsu 韻律, but have been pretty lax in regards to kigo 季語 and kire 切れ), I essentially have free reign over the subject matter of the haiku, with the outcome being something of an imagined word picture (写生文) based on sound rather than an experienced image. So, instead of appraising the opus, I am relaying it from one art form into another, and leaving the reader’s assessment of both completely within their discretion. Whether the derivation holds any transferable relationship with the inspiration is neither here nor there, only the fact that one exists because of the other is enough to establish an unbreakable bond between the two.

I’ve created one haiku for each track, generally going with my first instinctual concept inspired by the music, and sticking with it even if I discover a potential way to improve it after completion. In other words, the first idea might not be my favourite, but by virtue of being first it feels somehow truer to my subconscious interpretation of the music, and once the ku 句 is finished (as in making some kind of sense and adhering to the formal structural requirements) it is done and set in stone. (For example, I could have changed the word 起源 in the third haiku to 元が or 元や, and this may have made it more grammatically correct or added kire, but I’d prefer to stick with my original decision even if it doesn’t appear as cultured.)

Anyway, here’s some music and poetry:

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1. BTVN – “G13”