Tulean Dispatch

Patrick Shiroishi is a Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. When he's not recording/performing with math rock freaksters Upsilon Acrux, avant/zeuhl weirdos Corima, collaborating in a multitude of duo/trio outfits on saxophone, keyboards or drums, or guesting with the likes of Chelsea Wolfe and Brian Ellis Group, Shiroishi manages to still find the time to record his own solo saxophone pieces. Now, involving a mix of alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, and prepared piano, Shiroishi brings his most gripping work to date with Tulean Dispatch. The tape is deeply personal, being a direct reference to Shiroishi's heritage and the treatment of his family. As Shiroishi explains, the album is named after the newspaper that was distributed at Tule Lake Internment camp, where his grandparents were placed during WWII. But the human atrocities and acts of inhumanity are by no means a thing of the past. The four pieces here serve as a reaction towards the current acts of violence throughout the world and what is happening internally in the US, as well. "Herni" opens the set with its explosive 11-minute sprawl, perfectly setting the scene and presenting Shiroishi's embittered lament. "The Screams of a Father's Tears" offers a howling and hallucinatory wash of sax squalls that are both urgently untamed and wholly captivating. "Form and Void" is perhaps Tulean Dispatch's centerpiece, presenting an epic and foreboding dirge. The air is patiently menacing, as though processing some unspeakable atrocity in real time. Brief but overwhelmingly potent, "The Flowers and Candles are Here to Protect Us" closes things out in a solemn state of misery. Brimming with expressive emotion and conveyed through unbridled impulse, Tulean Dispatch finds Shiroishi pushing himself to the physical and emotional limit.