Ett - Live in Nagoya and a review of their 2nd CD
09.27.06 at Tokuzo in Nagoya by Eric Nielsen
There's just something about Kyoto, all of Japan in fact, that brings out the women to sing. It seems so many more women are onstage in Japan than in America. Isn't it refreshing to hear a beautiful woman's voice, to look at a woman on stage instead of a band of men and damn if it doesn't make you smile more often than not. After hearing endless hours of the drivel that the majors spit out in America this record is like a meditation, like a clearing of a mind. Like you can really hear again after not hearing for the last 10 hours you've been listening. This duo can sing and play. The high notes are a pleasure and the guitar playing is impeccable. They've crafted this folk thing that is not so many things that it actually is something. They also have a sense of humor that works for me. They play a song about making sure to brush your teeth or the cockroaches will get you. All the singing is in Japanese so you get this wonderful ambience of being somewhere else. It's hard to say what it sounds like, sometimes Hawaiian, sometimes like a tv show theme song. This feels like underground music for regular folk. It's above ground with teasing's of tilt. So many things sound similar but underneath there is depth and layering that draws you in unbeknownst to your senses. It's so different from what you hear in and out of every day that it makes it worth listening to. Sometimes the visuals of watching a duo can be boring but not with these two. She's constantly marching, waving her arms and showing some amazing breath control. Both the CD and the live show convey a sense of belonging, of smiles, of reasons for living and playing in a register left somewhere alongside a dusty road into the heart of Hollywood. This album is recommended to snap you out of wherever you are and put you somewhere different. Beautiful, sincere and reminiscent of a dark busy night in the bustle of Kyoto. Take me away. Please. Most music has lost it's power but this CD finds it in the most obvious of places, central inside you and me. He plays guitar and she sings.

http://www.couplabel.com/ett/