Cassette Review // Hualun "The Minor Trio I" (KATUKTU COLLECTIVE)

https://katuktucollective.bandcamp.com/album/the-minor-trio-i

Hualun has a sound that is both vast and varying.  When you hear this cassette, you will be taken away into a place where you might not return the same.   It begins with blissed out tones, guitars and keys.  There is a sense of rock within this, which reminds me of garage rock but also has elements of 311 but "Lowrider" and all at once.   That might just be something you have to hear to fully understand.

There is also rhythm and soul, and the second song comes out with these angelic wind chime tones.   It can also be thought of as music box tones and I really enjoy the idea of someone finding an old music box at a thrift store or tag sale and using it in their music.   Driving, with slipping static, the synth tones come through like space now.  There is a steady rhythm within this second song and it feels like it is just blasting you into space.

As this is in three parts, I like to think of the first song as preparing you for liftoff, as one would with a rocket, and then the second is that act of launching into space, leaving Earth behind.  The third song is the arrival into space.  Sad, acoustic plucks come out with these horns (which might be a trumpet)  Synth rays come through and they echo like skipping stones, reminding us of the vastness of space; the emptiness.

I'm not sure why my mind often takes these experiences in listening to music and sets them in space.   There is no sound in space so it doesn't fully make sense, but this is just where my imagination takes me.   When listening to this cassette by Hualun, your mind might go somewhere else.   You might have different images playing in your head.   And that's okay.  It's not about the destination, the music is about the journey.