Hatis Noit - Aura Reworks

Enchanting Japanese vocal artist Hatis Noit has announced Aura Reworks, The new release reimagines her 2022 debut album, Aura, by legendary artists and collaborators, including the godfather of ambience Laraaji, hip hop duo Armand Hammer, composers and electronic experimentalists Jlin, Alex Somers, William Basinski, Emel, Matthew Herbert and Yu Su. 
 
Aura Reworks opens with a transcendental reinterpretation of the title track “Aura” by laughter meditation practitioner, mystic, and “ambient godfather” Laraaji. Hatis’ haunting vocals whir and groan in conversation with Laraaji’s bouncing hums, over open-tuned zither, kalimba, and timbrels. The soft organic percussion is replaced by thumping, shamanic kick drum on “Thor”, reworked by DJ and producer Matthew Herbert. The track is a playful, primal devotion, evoking a bonfire-lit ritual in the centre of a dancefloor. Matthew Herbert describes the track as an “auditory hallucination where more modern techniques merged with ancient-sounding voices.”. Preservation’s rework of “Jomon” combines Hatis Noit’s powerful cries that evoke Japan’s prehistoric Jomon period with slow, considered vocals by cult New York rap duo Armand Hammer over a minimalist drum loop.  The result is a bold call to arms, bridging thousands of years. 
 
Alex Somers’ haunting reimagination of “Angelus Novus” splinters Hatis’ heavy vocals, transforming them into glitchy ASMR-effect blips that bounce in intensity before a brutal, heartbreaking passage, forcing the listener to stop and breathe. As Somers’ track fades, Hatis’ long, soft hums continue into the most contemplative track, “Inori”, reworked by avant-garde composer William Basinski, introduces a delicate piano to the track. “Inori” features a field recording of the ocean only one kilometre away from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, destroyed by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Hatis Noit had been invited there for a memorial ceremony which marked the re-opening of the area for local people to return to their homes. The emotive and compassionate song is dedicated to the lives lost due to 2011’s tsunami, but equally to the memories people have of their hometown. Aura Reworks closes with “Sir Etok” a haunting track reworked by Emel, whose own voice enters into dialogue with Hatis’, mixing Arabic with her wordless sounds to create new dimensions.