Released: October 20th, 2009
Label: Someone Good (Australia)
Track listing:
1 - Hicari (2:04)
2 - Faire (1:40)
3 - April (3:14)
4 - Would (3:06)
5 - Sign (2:20)
6 - Tale (1:56)
7 - Look (1:47)
8 - Tyme (3:38)
9 - Guitar (1:30)
10 - Venice (4:20)
11 - Ein Lied (3:50)
Notes: "A person’s first foray into instrumental music is often cacophonous. Many of the post-rock staples of the past decade have made their money off the build-and-crescendo style of aural onslaught that drew many fans into the vocal-free arena. It’s easy to miss, or to forget, the exquisite and almost painful beauty that pours off a well-done minimalist project. Several subgenres of instrumental music have their heroes, be it William Basinski, Goldmund, or otherwise. It takes a practiced patience to come home from a day at the modern breakneck pace and slide eloquently into a simple piano arrangement. Tokyo’s Akira Kosemura offers us the chance to do just that.
The most pleasant and intimate aspect of Polaroid Piano, Kosemura’s third solo full-length, is a feeling of being there with the artist in the stark silence between notes as he plays. The unedited sounds that accompany the actual playing of the instrument are constant companions throughout the album. The slightly hollow echo of the strings vibrating too deeply for the microphone adds a warm sensation to already comforting key strikes. The occasional slight delay or off-note is left unperfected, an insider’s smile to the listener. Most touching, however, is that Kosemura manages to record the very sounds of the piano itself. It’s a classic piano, immediately identifiable by the lost sound of wood creaking under the weight of the pianist’s hands. The dull thud of unmuted foot pedals greets the end of almost every chord on the album, and the listener feels almost as if his own feet are doing the pressing.
The songs themselves are a complicated mix of demure and delicate. Each manages to come across as longing and wistful while having a hint of optimism from the occasional upswing. “Tyme” can at times urge the listener to lean forward, the chords and creaks ever so faint and plaintive. Only very rarely will one find sounds other than the quiet plucking of keys throughout the album. “Sign” combines the best of Kosemura’s talents while subtly incorporating the distant chirp of birds and a warped acoustic tinkering. The effect overall is almost pharmaceutical in its ability to wash the listener in peacefulness.
In only two or three minutes, the artist manages to say so many things that can’t be expressed with spoken word. Without attempting any kind of epic achievement in the combination of many sounds, Kosemura has shown how powerful a solo approach can be when executed with absolute earnestness."
-Brendan Kraft The Silent Ballet
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