Illuha - Tobira (2023)

On Tobira the duo of Corey Fuller and Tomoyoshi Date, as Illuha, becomes a trio with the addition of percussionist Tatsuhisa Yamamoto whose textured drumming lead his solo work on Black Truffle as well as collaborations with Jim O’Rourke and Eiko Ishibashi, Keiji Haino, Phew, Oren Ambarchi among others. Illuha’s electro-acoustic environments that teem with beautifully recorded, precise, delicate details get taken to a new place with the presence of Yamamoto’s deep sense of groove and unique approach to the drum kit.

Tobira means “door” or “opening” in Japanese and after years of working as a duo, Fuller and Date were looking for a way into new sonic territories which lead them to explore rhythmic structures, an unchartered territory for the band that also felt, excitingly, like a faux pas in “ambient” music.

Tobira consists of material recorded over 2 inspired sessions and a few successive overdubs. Yamamoto added a new sonic palette and was instrumental in the expanse of Illuha’s musical structure both during live improvisation and in the studio. His drumming style is characterized by a very light touch with microphones close to the drums to capture the quiet textured hits while amplifying them into a present voice.

Immediately at the album’s onset we hear Yamamoot’s drum kit, signalling, to those familiar with Illuha’s music, that something different is happening here. The percussive voices continue to mingle amongst Fuller and Date’s pool of rhodes, piano, distant synths and metallic murmurations. By the fourth track, “Nijiriguchi” the trio has entered a hazy darkness of pulsing drums, distorted guitar and bass playing that carries the the album into a noir-infused headspace before settling back into angled atmospherics. Illuha pulls this off without losing their sense of melodicism, texture and deliberate, detailed production creating a beautiful combination of the intentional and the exploratory.

On Tobira the listener is given a choice of doors, each one offering a different terrain and the sonics to accompany and navigate the haze of new landscapes.