Nº 7 A LITTLE FABLE – ASPIDISTRAFLY

“I went mourning without the sun; I am a companion to owls.”

In the autumn and winter of 2010, Singapore-based April Lee and Ricks Ang of ASPIDISTRAFLY (also founders of KITCHEN. LABEL) embarked on recording their second album in Japan, collaborating with several artists. Fascinated by the patina of time and themes of folklore, A Little Fable presents a surreal procession of tales, with twelve compositions that seamlessly blend into one another, both lyrically and sonically. The album sees the duo returning to their signature organic sound, featuring softly whispered vocals, fingerpicked guitar, lush string arrangements, and their trademark focus on texture.

The album opens like a dusty drawer of forgotten memories, with a mournful, solitary cello and a harmonium drone setting the stage for a glockenspiel motif that evokes twinkling stars. Landscape with a Fairy tells a story of loss and longing during the early morning mist, a moment suspended in time, much like the fleeting landscapes captured in Andrei Tarkovsky’s polaroids of the Russian countryside. April Lee’s intimate vocals and acoustic guitar gently break the silence of a cold morning, accompanied by graceful string flourishes arranged by Kyo Ichinose. KITCHEN. LABEL’s haruka nakamura and Junya Yanagidaira add harmonizing layers of guitar and piano, respectively.

Homeward Waltz traces the mysterious migration routes of nocturnal animals, skipping along a breadcrumb trail through the forest, ornamented by violins and other curious sounds. The track culminates in an amorphous guitar drone, as Seigen Tokuzawa’s improvised cello strokes drift and wander like fleeting apparitions in the night sky. The spontaneous atmosphere of Cocina is filled with the sounds of wooden creaks and the quiet stirrings of morning routines, as honagayoko’s quaint piano phrases waltz with spliced vocals and flute.

The second half of the album emerges from the dark foliage into a vast, cryptic landscape, as A Little Fable contemplates the fragility and transience of the world. The journey reaches a turning point in Sea of Glass, where Ricks Ang constructs a looping guitar arpeggio that ebbs and flows like a narcotic pulse, reverberating across tumultuous seas. Now distant and ethereal, sounds of surging waves open Countless White Moons, held together by Akira Kosemura’s luminous piano. The elusive narrative of Language of Flowers tells of an escape from the passage of time, as a folkloric enchantress wordlessly casts her spell. In Gensei, April Lee’s tender, wavering vibrato conveys an unspoken sorrow, while Janis Crunch’s somber piano and choral vocals loom like a harbinger of death.

The final chapter, Twinkling Fall — the second track to feature haruka nakamura — closes the drawer of secrets, with once-dissipated monochrome hues restored to full bloom.

CREDIT

April Lee: Vocals, Guitars, Electronics
Ricks Ang: Electric Guitars, Electronics

Produced by Ricks Ang
Composed by April Lee & Ricks Ang
String Arrangement by Kyo Ichinose
Mastered by Zengyo, Japan

Art Direction by Rika M. & April Lee
Design by April Lee & Ricks Ang