Here’s some music that is like sonic Asian water colors. Bassist Michel Benita brings together the pastel sounds of Matthieu Michel/fh, Mieko Miyazaki/koto, Eivind Aarset/g-el and Philippe Garcia/dr to create a pastoral landscape of song. Benita uses his rich and textured bass to create rich frames for Michel’s sighing horns as on the thoughtful “Lykken” as he also forms rolling hills spaced between each other on the panoramic “Hacihi Gatsu” that mixes gentle drops of dew from Miyazaki’s koto and Aarset’s guitar. Trickling streams of string rustle in the back woods to Garcia’s drum work on “Back From The Moon” while cirrus clouds of flugelhorn float to the Metheny-esque koto and guitar on “I See Altitudes.” There is a relaxed chamber sound to this music that has the fragrance of cherry blossoms and the rustle of a lotus garden.
ECM Records
www.ecmrecords.com