Triola & Atsuko Hatano - Scapegoat (2023)

‘Scapegoat’ is the new album by TRIOLA, the project led by the prolific Tokyo-based composer & experimental string musician Atsuko Hatano, featuring the Japanese violinist Anzu Suhara.
Conceived as a string project, with Hatano on viola, cello, bass and Suhara on violin, TRIOLA involves a rotating ensemble of guest musicians, including the likes of Chicago-born musician, composer & producer Jim O’Rourke (Drag City, Sonic Youth, Steamroom), the composer & musician Eiko Ishibashi (Drag City, Black Truffle), Australian composer Joe Talia (Touch, Room40, Feeding Tube Records), Yamaguchi-born drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto (releases on Black Truffle, Longform Editions, SUPERPANG, performances with Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi & Phew +++), Sendai-based vocalist & musician Koji Shibuya (Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Yumbo) & many more.

‘Scapegoat’ follows the 2019 album release by TRIOLA entitled ‘Chiral’, and although recorded as an instrumental opus, ‘Scapegoat’ is described by Hatano as an ‘imaginary opera’, comprising eleven ‘scenes’ connected by one overarching drama, with a song or a poem scripted for each composition. Exploring the symbolism of light, space, and precious gemstones, as well as themes of solitude, memory, self-fulfilment, self-deception, rebirth, and reinvention, TRIOLA masterfully shape exquisite, free-flowing movements of strings and percussion, marked by subtle infiltrations of aleatoric electronics and found sound.