zymogen .net label

zym016/Marihiko Hara - Cesura

27 Sep 2007

Zymogen celebrates its second anniversary with a release composed by Marihiko Hara, from Kyoto, Japan.
Here we have one of the most interesting young Japanese producers to date, also a member of the experimental-pop collective, Rimacona-Lab.

Cesura, Hara's debut album, emits melodies that have been compressed into subtle layers and thin sound-scapes.
The piano is his trademark, and when coupled with the other acoustic instruments he employs, we get digital samples that float endlessly via loops and high frequencies throughout the entire album, as in 'Sleep', 'Cesura', and 'Konstellation'.

Silence is the other vitally important element of 'Cesura'. It is often balanced with drones and white noise (as in 'Vision', 'Spectrum', 'Consonance', and 'Ripple') and is treated as an active part of the sound Hara makes. It serves as the basic color of the canvas, which he slowly fills with thin colored stokes. On the final track, entitled 'modena', Hara collaborates with Natsuko Yanagimoto: a vocalist and second half of the experimental-pop duo, Rimacona. Here, an over-processed voice is surrounded by flickering sounds, which resonate intimate tones and an overall emotive atmosphere.

Marihiko Hara designs minimal sound sculptures with poetry and soul, gives weight to pauses, and breaths life into silences and melodies without emphasis.
Cesura is such poetry.

Cesura is also available in lossless Flac format.