This debut album by bedroom sample slicer Iyashikei is a delight to listen to. Often making sparse use of sampled drums, guitars, pianos, horns this album will make you feel like you're in a quiet place, lying down on the grass with a mild breeze running by you and feeling endlessly youthful.
My thoughts on songs:
"Flem" is one of the more synth centered songs on the album and I'd be lying if the lead synth, together with the arpeggio toward the end wasn't one of the cutest musical moments I've ever heard. Truly special.
"Dreamt" makes great use of what it has available, slowly building up to a climax which really feels much more rich in instrumentation than it really is, something I found especially remarkable. I can just forget where I am while listening to this with those cute homely bells and the horns with all their reverb and filtering.
The beginning piano loop of "Glass Heart" sounds as if it'd feel ever so melancholic and empty on its own but in this song it's framed to just sound really casual and nostalgic. This juxtaposition is seen more further into the song with the saxophone which sounds as if it ought to be even sadder, yet the song isn't sad at all, it's...cool, like, sunglasses cool.
"An Axis of Shine" shocked me as I heard vocals for the first (and only) time on this album but it was a very welcome surprise, they worked really well with the song as it ascended into a big, beautiful pool of pads, strings and reverb championed by the filtered but never faded vocal loop.
"Afternoon" offers a welcome change of pace with some gorgeous piano and pad parts without any drums at all in the first half of the song. Somewhere down the line there appears the fastest paced drums this album sees, skittering and chopping all over the place, yet it still fits seamlessly with the slow feel the music set for itself before they arrive.
Click here or on the image above to listen to and download the album
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