eMusic Review 0
The most remarkable thing about this album is how familiar much of this Japanese music sounds. The first four instrumental cuts, with the elegance of their phrases and themes, could have come from the Renaissance with the particular way the folk and classical forms overlap. However, it definitely heads East on the two final tracks, where vocals enter the picture. The music on the koto (a type of zither with 13 strings) gives the music a more angular aspect and turns the melodies more alien, while the casually atonal (to Western ears, at least) singing is quite guttural. But all together they illustrate the facets of the koto, from the ancient (the songs) to the sweeter, delicate pieces, which were composed during the 19th century — and they inadvertently paint a picture of Japan itself, venerating its history while also reaching eagerly outside its borders to the West and the future. For once, music as metaphor actually makes sense.
