Song(s) of the Day # 3,408 maya ongaku

Japanese band maya ongaku's debut album Approach to Anima is a waking dream which I've been experiencing with intense pleasure since I chanced upon it in early evening yesterday. It's incredible realised and fully fledged as an opening statement, and I suspect something of an instant classic.

The band hail from Enoshima, a small, populated island located 50km southwest from Tokyo. The best way of experiencing it, apart perhaps from visiting the place, is probably spending forty minutes with headphones on in the company of the record.

It's an incredibly evocative, pastoral immersion. Throughout the record has a background track of lapping, flowing water. The album at points reminded me of other records in my collection; Can's Ege Bamyasi and Faust IV specifically. But there's abundant evidence here that it really just deserves consideration on its own merits.

It's a true labour and act of love. An album assembled of delicacy. Guitar, bass, woodwind, percussion, ticking clocks and floating vocals. Intense reflection and instrumentation. Another utterly delightful find. For more on this remarkable record, click here..