What does Sō Percussion sound like?

Experimental percussion-driven crossover music that knows no musical genre limits.

The review of ‘Amid The Noise Live’ by Sō Percussion

This might be a tricky place for a newbie to start with Sō Percussion, but it is also a gorgeous album for any percussion fan to dip into. Sō Percussion recorded an album called ‘Amid The Noise’ back in 2006, and they took 6 of these tracks, added two others from elsewhere, and brought it to a live workshop. Every summer, the quartet behind Sō Percussion run a workshop, and in 2024, 26 participating musicians helped perform this album.

Unlike so many percussion albums, this album and live performance are structured around quietness. Opening track ‘June’ is a shimmer of brushed percussion on the wind, shimmering like a sunset as jewelled, tuned percussion gently pitter-patters around a soothing human coo. Rhythm is there, but it is an accent, not the main focus. ‘White’ is more rhythmic with rustic percussion gently structuring a harmonium hum and more metallic percussion. I’m reminded of Javanese gamelan and Japanese country towns.

It isn’t until the pitch-bending not-a-theremin, and rumbles of wooden and metallic tuned percussion of ‘Go’ arrive that Sō Percussion dares to put drums front and centre. This six-and-a-half-minute epic sounds like Björk’s Biophilia as an instrumental album… perhaps with some Sigur Rós thrown in. The way instruments wash in and out like tides is sublime. Music can have a wonderous, galactic quality to it, as if it has travelled in from the other side of the universe. ‘Go’ has that quality.

‘Extremes’ is a track not featured on the original album and is a skittish, metallic, tiny piece. Between cowbells, triangles, hi-hats, and glassy xylophones, the track whips itself into a frenzy. There is a strong Evelyn Glennie vibe here. Feeling first, melody a distant second. That leads us to ‘Fire Escapes’ and the track’s piano foundations. We’ve not heard a piano until now, so it stands out from the rest of the recording. Bells and mallets encircle the piano with jazzy and classical nuances. It is a calm piece, but also the least interesting of the performance sonically.

‘September’ brings back that curiosity with lots of playful percussive exploration. Frames, interstrings, fret board necks, and pensive rings are meticulously fiddled with to create a collage of sound. As more instruments join in, more drums are knocked and wiggled to evoke a haunted house coming to life. It feels very folkloric, and as the full rhythm gets going by the three-minute mark, I’m in full Shinto ceremony vibe. The clip-clop of the wooden blocks alongside the clanging of bell chimes makes this a tense piece. It paves the way for the eight-minute ‘March’. This dewy, uplifting piece brings together almost everything we’ve heard up to now in a chamber-folk-inspired finale. Piano returns to support the big rock drums, rumbles of wooden and metallic percussion, and finally, the drum gets some bombastic use of its tom drums! The piece feels like an epic caravan across a cold forest.

The album closes with a vocal and handclap track called ‘Thank You 4 Listening’. The song is constructed around someone repeatedly singing the letters to “thank you”. More voices join in, but they are designed to create a human echo chain and pattern reverb. I admire the technical skill of this piece over its immediate musical appeal, but I cannot deny that it is impressive. It has also started to grow on me. I promise not to start attempting this at work meetings…

What I love about Sō Percussion and this live reimagining of ‘Amid The Noise’ is how nothing here shouts “I AM A PERCUSSION ALBUM” or “HIT THINGS LOUDLY”. So many percussion albums feature technically impressive but quite unlistenable drum solos for half an hour. This performance focuses on how percussion can be soft and can point towards a feeling or thought without needing a cymbal crash to get you there. This is a sumptuous album and a comfort blanket to enjoy.

Recommended track: Go

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