Vertical Language

2022 release. Totally captivating, operatic/gothic torch songs and jazz-skooled improvisations by Tokyo's Keiko Higuchi, an internationally renowned vocalist/instrumentalist new to us, but strongly recalling singular artists from Maja S.K. Ratkje to John Duncan, Keiji Haino to Diamanda Galas, or Ghédalia Tazartès to Linda Sharrock. The striking psychodrama of Vertical Language makes up Keiko's first solo release in six years and appears on L.A.'s Black Editions label after their string of classic P.S.F. Records reissues and original fringe zingers. It's eight parts frame Keiko in the starkest sound stage settings, spotlighting a remarkable vocal range - from operatic flights to rasping hush and tortured jazz-blues - against a backdrop of sparing, lithe arrangements for hammered and coaxed keys, electric guitar, and fretless jazz bass that flesh and colour the record's imagined space with a haunted fever dream quality. As far as first introductions go, it's properly memorable stuff; at once familiar yet elusive, earthly and otherworldly, conveying a sort of pathos that requires no knowledge of her background to comprehend and transcend the language barrier. A real gem, don't sleep.