Li Jianhong

San Sheng Shi

Archive




For those unfamiliar with who Li Jianhong is and what he does, to set the record straight, he hails from Hangzhou, China and is a one-man guitar/effects virtuoso of sorts, who is slowly beginning to get his name heard outside of mainland China. With that said, Archive has come forth with perhaps his most available release on this side of the Pacific with San Sheng Shi, a 51-minute guitar overture that showcases Jianhong's ability to manipulate the guitar to otherworldly sound parameters. Starting off with what must be an ebow and a slew of effects (delay, reverb, sustain and probably more), Jianhong plays a call-and-response between himself and guitar, feedbacking and delaying a sonic melee of sorts for the first 10 minutes or so of the piece. Slowly and dramatically layering in effects and distortion, a wave of reservation sweeps over the piece about 12 minutes in, relying more on an intensifying delay pattern and what manipulations Jianhong can add to it. Quick enough though, the piece takes on a harsh noise identity, almost as if Jianhong is pitchbending while playing, which he very well may be doing. It's hard to decipher exactly what he's running his axe through, since he seems to go from a swirling mess of sound to something more stripped down rather quickly, and back again a few times over in this epic masterwork. At 21 minutes, Jianhong has worked the piece into a dense wall of static, with some guitar tones ruminating deep in the background, leaving any musical overtone out to dry. The piece continues to transform throughout, but never lets up on the effects, which might lead one to wonder what Jianhong would sound like playing a clean guitar, or an acoustic instrument for that matter. Just past the halfway point, the piece makes a stark drop in content, retreating from a droning intensity to a minimal experimentation in tone and sustain. It's easy to say that this is the most elementary moment of the work, as the content reluctantly goes a bit dry and simple. However, it's a nice departure from the mounting intensity that at this point, was building for 33 minutes, and separates the track somewhat into two distinct parts. It's a working listen, and a draining one at that, but with bit of patience, one will eventually get to the end. After a brief pause, for the end of San Sheng Shi, Jianhong adds a bit more of an atmospheric tone over some shrieking guitar riffing and a light amount of white noise, forming the track into something a bit spacier than the first part. It's still a bit overdone, but for what would be construed as the grand finale of such a work, its equal parts harsh psychedelia and catharsis that seem to fit well together to wrap the track up. The closing of the track tones down a bit for the last three minutes in a dark, dirgy drone for a solemn yet fitting end to this rather intense and difficult listen. All in all, the track is quite a work, but this might be a bit too deep for some. This isn't exactly the record you'd want to put on to entertain or to wind down to after a rough day at the job. It is however, a great backdrop soundtrack, that's not going to let you fall asleep; an arousing listen to say the least. For those who look forward to super-epic noise works, this record will appease and astound.

Li Jianhong
Archive