In these eight striking miniatures, he illuminates that meaning for us by melding, in the Zen spirit of forerunner John Cage, artifice, nature and technology.
Michiru Aoyama visits his temple in the wee hours of morning and meditates until all “sound and non-sound begin to have a meaning” and shine for him. In these eight striking miniatures, he illuminates that meaning for us by melding, in the Zen spirit of forerunner John Cage, artifice, nature and technology.
Similarly perhaps to the feeling experienced while meditating, time passes rapidly. Aoyama first clears the cluttered mind with the exquisitely chiming and rotating “Air of Japan,” before lifting into a series of ambient washes and drones which do indeed dissolve the boundary between the microcosmos and the rest of the galaxy. Some are pure nothingness/everythingness drift, like “Slow Moment” and “Ginga,” some, like “Lake” and “Drop” descend deeply, and one, “A Summer without You,” is so freighted with emotion as to be wrenching. With 音は光る (The Sound Is Shining), Aoyama wordlessly reiterates the categorical Buddhist imperative against a worldview that segregates mind, body and environment.
In another outstanding edition by Organic Industries, this lovely album is available in a physical package embedded in cherry blossoms, as well as via Bandcamp.
音は光る (The Sound Is Shining) is available on Organic Industries.
