akira kosemura + haruka nakamura / Afterglow
01, a + h / azure
02, h / calm
03, a / garden
04, h / delight
05, a / drizzle
06, a / haze
07, h / plus
08, h / graf
09, a / nostalgia
10, a + h / afterglow
11, a + h / Landscape (digital limited, iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and amazon mp3)
all compositions
written, produced, recorded and played by akira kosemura & haruka nakamura
voice of track 02, 08 by Janis Crunch
mastered by Mansaku Kashiwai
art direction & photography by Yuma Saito
::IN STORES::
schole (JP), TOWER RECORDS (JP), HMV (JP), AMAZON (JP)
A-Musik (Germany), Norman Records (UK), Andtheyfell (US), White Noise records (China)
mu-nest (Malaysia), NODE CULTURE (China)
iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, hrfq.com.
<< iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, hrfq.comにて、全曲試聴可能 >>
::REVIEWS::
気鋭の音楽家２人の連名による作品。急成長のレーベル【schole】を主宰し自身も既にソロ・アルバムを発表しているakira kosemuraと、独自の活動を続けるharuka nakamura。ピアノとギターのオーガニックな響きと電子音が心地良い余韻を残す。これらの手法はやり尽くされたものの、それらの諸作とは印象が一味違う良盤。感情的で言葉にするには難しい、“暮れ”の感覚が想起される。昨今エレクトロニカ・シーンの飽和が続き見通しが難しい中、若手の台頭として次世代を予感させる。
- intoxicate vol.70 (TOWER RECORDS - Daisuke Suzuki / 鈴木大輔)
音の在る、静かな時間は、とても優雅だ。
そんな印象を強く与える音楽は滅多に存在しない。音色には景色があり、そのメロディーには物語がある。それは音楽を聴いているというより、むしろ自分が歩んでいるかのような錯覚にさえ陥る。
螺旋のようなピアノと、芳醇な香り漂う電子音が、あたりを霧の如く囲い、気が付けば時間を創る。同じ時間さえも豊かに、そして、美しくしてくれる。どこか遠い記憶を、温かく包み込む包容力がこの音楽にはある。
ありふれた音響作品ではなく、この作品はあなたの中に住み着くだろう。
なぜなら、なにも特別な出来事ではなく、昨日あった思い出せない記憶に、あなたは涙することが出来るかもしれない。
そう、この作品は［Afterglow］〜余韻〜なのだから。
akira kosemura + haruka nakamura、僕はこの二人の生み出す繊細で大胆な音に、嫉妬さえ覚える。
- no.9
二人の紡ぎ出す音は、聴く者の五感に直接訴えかけてくる。目をつぶると浮かんでくるには、どこか懐かしく、どこか甘酸っぱい、無限に広がる意識の風景。こんな美しい音楽あったんですね。
- Yusuke Furuya / 古屋雄裕 (HMV buyer)
とっても綺麗で透き通った世界でしたよ。派手ではないけれど、２人のEchoが心に染み渡りましたよ。最高の安息音楽でした。これは必聴ではないでしょうか。。
- Kazumasa Hashimoto
One of the problems with listening to a lot of music is that, after a while, it all starts to mesh together. Listening to one unextraordinary release after another eventually wears down the critical eye to the point where it's questionable whether the capacity to recognize a truly great release when it presents itself is still intact. Sure, it’s easy to acknowledge a good album if it's recommended by someone else, but it is perhaps more difficult to come to that conclusion by oneself -- to form an opinion in isolation of external influences. Perhaps it is merely the case that I had not heard a standout minimalist/post-classical album in a while, but I was beginning to worry about my ability to separate the cream from the crop in this genre, as several of the more high profile releases of late had left me cold. Then, along came label-mates Akira Kosemura and Haruka Nakamura’s new collaboration Afterglow, which put all my fears to rest.
Akira Kosemura, you might remember, was recently given a favorable review by Erich Meister for his debut LP, It’s On Everything. Haruka Nakamura is another young Japanese artist who has yet to release an album, but shows much promise on this effort. Both play similar styles of piano-driven, electronica-influenced minimalism. Separate, they both have their moments of brilliance, as the solo tracks on this album demonstrate. However, when actively working together, they eclipse brilliance and become downright amazing.
Unfortunately, only two tracks appear to be authored by both artists − “Azure,” which begins the album, and “Afterglow,” which ends it. However, these two are real treats. Kosemura seems to have more of a knack for the electronic elements of the music, while Nakamura likes to incorporate guitar as well as piano. On these bookending tracks, the audience gets to enjoy both strengths at once, as well as the masterful piano work of both artists who seem to affect each other synergistically. “Afterglow,” in particular, is actually driven by an acoustic guitar, and after having the piano as front man for every previous song, the guitar sounds incredibly fresh and soothing. It’s a perfect end to a spectacular album.
Though it sounds like an odd combination, this album makes me think both of rainy days and of sunrises at the same time. I’m not quite sure how they do it, but somehow these sparse compositions encapsulate life in its entirety, and at its most poignant and contemplative. For two such young artists, this is an amazing feet. It’s rather awe-inspiring for me to think of how these two minimalists from Japan will get even better with age and experience. Hopefully, they will continue to work collaboratively in the future, as it’s rare to see two artists complement each other so thoroughly.
- Tom Butcher (The Silent Ballet)
Performed largely on piano and electronics, the selections on Afterglow, a collaboration between Akira Kosemura and Haruka Nakamura, provide a rich, resonating meld of opulent and bell-like tones. From here, the ambience of the release widens into a stately panorama of obscure and half-submerged gestures: shards of electronic splinters that sound like the links of a chain uncoiling, rumbling undertow’s, and low end sublimities on the piano, often twinning the aura with the non-homogenous.
It’s this element of the recording that allows it to ring out as a joyful vortex of sound, as something more than pretty ornamentation. Themes crystalize, then undergo serial changes of state as pungent chords blend or clash. What is more,the set as a whole is well measured. The duo shift from hypnotic ambiences, to restrained contemplative pieces, to swirling, insistent yet centreless expressive motifs. In so doing, the terms of the albums development are discernible, and its changes sound true.
Take a track such as “Graf”, for instance: here, melodic flurries arise out of digital squits, tinging the air with a lovely sense of longing and faint hope. Indeed, although a few works fail to achieve any manner of distinction, many ghosts of melody hover in the sinewy webs of this delightfully expressive and genuine work.
- Max Schaefer (cyclic defrost magazine)