Ryosuke Miyata :: Sea of Nebukawa (Organic Industries)

With guitar and unspecified electronics, the Sea of Nebukawa is portrayed intimately. It feels as though we are being taken via slopes and slipways and ginnels to his favorite spots—a rare, affectionate interaction between man and place.

Yet another gorgeous release from Organic Industries. All or at least most of the packages designed by Andre Gansebohm, each housed in a white cardboard window folder with CD nestled in an ejector claw, feature landscape photography with that special, Kodak-era colour—just ever so bleached out.

These particular snaps were taken by the artist himself. Ryosuke Miyata’s paean to the eponymous body of water blends quiet ambient melodies with field recordings of what the air is carrying. With guitar and unspecified electronics, the Sea of Nebukawa is portrayed intimately. It feels as though we are being taken via slopes and slipways and ginnels to his favorite spots—a rare, affectionate interaction between man and place.

“Unmanned Station” is the sound I would like to wake up to every summer day the rest of my life. The harmonium drone of “Air of Alleys” turns each update of the sampled speaking clock into haiku. “Enoura Fishing Point” is vapour, “Castle Town” the water steaming off the surface of the sea, becoming a mirage in the warm air of midday. “After Dark” relives the day’s events through a psychedelic marmalade prism and “In You (Album Version)” mulls those impressions over. Hakobune’s remix of “Chirping Song of Birds” is a lovely bonus, though he sacralizes what Miyata has humanized.

Asleep, I hope my dreams about Japan take me to this place. I will set my alarm clock to “Unmanned Station.”

Sea of Nebukawa is available on Organic Industries.