Mind-blowing investigation of immersive listening fields, earth-drones, electro-acoustic ritual and zoned psych from this duo formed by visual/sound artists Hitoshi Kojo and Michael Northam. This is the duo's first release, compiled and edited together from a run of guerilla performances that took place in the open air, in nuclear bunkers and perched on high hills in the alps ala Taj Mahal Travellers. The music exists somewhere in the conceptual nexus between The Skaters (the most overt comparison), the Jeweled Antler collective, sound/tape artists like Ghedalia Tazartes and the Three Poplars cultus of Mirror, Andrew Chalk, Christoph Heemann, William Basinski et al. There are short track that feature distant bell tones, moaning vocals and solitary wind instruments that sound like the ritual forms of Ghost given a more thorough performance-specific re-think by NNCK, all bookended by longer pieces that feature primitive electronic trance-works that combine surrendered voids of almost-tone with tiny sounds, bowed objects, organic drones and a use of distant, partially obscured melodies that is extremely evocative. Kodama manage to reconcile physically transcendent drone work with a tactile earth ritual feel in a way that feels extremely psychedelic and more like a group playing live than some dull-minded loop station and backing tapes schtick. If you dig The Skaters and are especially attuned to communal improvisatory attempts at group levitation then this is surely your ticket. "We are the spirit of forest. Our howling has been offered to the many goddesses of the valleys. Teething our emptiness they, licking the stars, until white holes appear in our sky through them towards regenerative guides of the tonal-morphic omni-verses. Using found objects to seduce voices from unlikely sources as well as traditional instruments of wind, wires and wood. Kodama weaves between emotional poetry and dynamic forces of noises. The recordings have a strong atmosphere of each location -- the top of a mountain in Switzerland, a campground in Ohio, Lofoten Island in Norway, the arctic circle in Finland, Niagara Falls, etc. It includes a lot of the dirts of the raw recordings, but also incredibly beautiful moments such as the session with an owl in a Slovenian forest, an alpine summit singing meditation under the vast galaxy, and an encounter with the small people through strange ritual..." - HK. Limited pressing of 500 copies. Covers & insert printed on 2-color offset press with illustrations and design by Hitoshi Kojo. Highly recommended.