The Secret Meeting – Ultrashiver

The Secret Meeting is a recent music project involving kaRIN and Statik of Collide and Dean Garcia of Curve and the result is a hothouse flower of an album, a lush, sustained sonic whorl, rich in all sorts of studio-created sounds, that blends elements of electronic, goth, industrial, darkwave, guitar-noise, rock, and ethereal soundscapes with singer kaRIN’s thickly layered, warm, alluring vocals.

Some of the highlights on the album Ultrashiver include the seductive, aural-cocoon opener “Touch”, which goes by in the blink of an eye, a fine meld of Collide and Curve, as kaRIN weaves multiple lines of her sinuous, seductive, breathy, sometimes wordless, “dissipating-sigh” vocals around a dark sound of guitar, bass, and electronic noises that builds up in tempo on the choruses, creating a more dynamic atmosphere as the song progresses.

“Am I Here?” goes for a more goth-electronic feel, similar to Curve’s “Horrorhead”, but without the guitar-driven fullness and pace of that song (the noise level of the guitars and electronics is tempered by the swampy, seductive miasma of the choruses). KaRIN’s heavy-lidded, hypnotic vocals call to mind a mellow Siouxsie Sioux, especially on the inflection of some of the lyrics when kaRIN sings “…written in the wind…”. Her vocals are embellished with druggy sighs as the song moves to a slow groove of a steady beat and swirls of guitars that brighten and get more expansive on the choruses.

The ghost of Curve is definitely present on “Every Little Thing” (“Every little thing has a meaning…”), with kaRIN singing in a higher, breathy, mysterious tone, sounding very Toni Halliday-like lyrically and vocally, although not as icy and disdainful as Toni (kaRIN projects warmth with her voice and delivery, whereas Toni of Curve projected coolness and distance).

“Beautiful Noise Machine” is a musically shifting number (soft verses contrasted with louder choruses) with reverberating, “water-ripple” guitars and, depending on the chorus, noisy guitars to plangent areo-guitar. KaRIN sings in a tone laden with sweetness, her words hanging drowsily in the air for brief moments as she sighs “I’ve been contemplating…need a place to put my emotions…I’ve got to get back up…”

The engaging “Blacker Than Blue” incorporates complex, electronic blips, loops of metal-sounding guitar riffs, a quicker-paced, thumping beat, industrial noise and squiggly electro sounds, and karRIN’s manipulated vocals as she sing-talks on a break from the “verse, chorus, verse” structure. This song is a shape-shifter in tempo, captivating the listener by the constantly changing sonics.

On “SoulCreeper” kaRIN’s vocals float over the musical arrangements like a dark angel, similar to the hollowed-out sound of Toni on Curve’s “Coast Is Clear”. A faster tempo of low-end, vibrating bass, warped metal sounds, and the blending of kaRIN’s lower-register vocals on the choruses creates a dark, intoxicating vibe.