Takeo Watanabe :: Piece of My Scape (Artificial Owl Recordings)

With eleven miniatures that pulse with glitchy nuances and a downtempo heartbeat, Watanabe guides us along unexpected paths, where abstract beats, gently plucked notes, and fuzzy rhythms harmonize in an elegant dance.

Brittle fragments of sound

The late ’90s and early 2000s emerge as a wistful reverie in the delicate textures and tones of IDM, reverberating through the corridors of memory like fleeting flashes of Bauri, Arovane, Plod, Plone, B. Fleischmann, Christian Kleine, and Phonem. These familiar soundscapes, steeped in evolving ambient electronica, are reimagined and reshaped by Takeo Watanabe, whose album Piece of My Scape blurs the boundaries between past and present.

With eleven miniatures that pulse with glitchy nuances and a downtempo heartbeat, Watanabe guides us along unexpected paths, where abstract beats, gently plucked notes, and fuzzy rhythms harmonize in an elegant dance. Microscopic melodies and distant field recordings unfold, their echoes fading into the background, washing over us in a serene flood of soft, eroded sonic granules.

Piece of My Scape is a subtle yet powerful retreat into the sounds of yesteryear, with standout moments including “Dreaming 2,” “Wave Motion,” “Abandoned Space,” “Bridge At Night,” and opener “Yukitubaki.” Brittle fragments of sound, woven into intricate structures, offering respite in a tumultuous world.

Piece of My Scape is available on Artificial Owl Recordings. [Bandcamp]