ambient / electronic
From extreme metal to soothing downtempo ambient tunes, on Merchants Of Air everything is possible. Personally, I think that's a good thing, even though our open-mindedness has already resulted in a massive pile of albums to reviewed, one we can no longer handle.
Nonetheless, we do our very best to pick out some great recommendations and present them to our readers. And this album by [.que] certainly comes highly recommended as it is a beautiful, calm and relaxing album with plenty of variation and an immersive atmosphere.
[.que] is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Nao Kakimoto, based in Tokyo, Japan. Since 2010 he has released seven albums, one EP and three singles on labels such as Schole, IntroDuCing! and his own Embrace. He has also composed music for many film movies, television commercials, websites and exhibitions. So we are dealing with a highly experienced musician here, and you can immediately hear that.
The album opens with 'Quiet', which is basically a piano driven ambient tune, quite similar to what people like Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm do. It mostly functions as the intro for things to come, and those things are simply great. 'Faraway' and 'Drip' come up with the electronic percussion and arrangements, turning the whole thing into downtempo electronic music. Boards Of Canada come to mind, which obviously is a good thing.
From then on, the album alternates between piano ambient and downtempo goodness, highlighting in the energetic 'Vast' and the title track 'Wonderland'. In all, this is a splendid piece of work, perhaps a bit too gentle and nice but highly enjoyable nonetheless. So yes, I think I'd like to recommend this to all fans of Arnalds, Frahm, Plaid, Boards and so on. This makes an excellent addition to your soothing collection.
Serge
Nonetheless, we do our very best to pick out some great recommendations and present them to our readers. And this album by [.que] certainly comes highly recommended as it is a beautiful, calm and relaxing album with plenty of variation and an immersive atmosphere.
[.que] is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Nao Kakimoto, based in Tokyo, Japan. Since 2010 he has released seven albums, one EP and three singles on labels such as Schole, IntroDuCing! and his own Embrace. He has also composed music for many film movies, television commercials, websites and exhibitions. So we are dealing with a highly experienced musician here, and you can immediately hear that.
The album opens with 'Quiet', which is basically a piano driven ambient tune, quite similar to what people like Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm do. It mostly functions as the intro for things to come, and those things are simply great. 'Faraway' and 'Drip' come up with the electronic percussion and arrangements, turning the whole thing into downtempo electronic music. Boards Of Canada come to mind, which obviously is a good thing.
From then on, the album alternates between piano ambient and downtempo goodness, highlighting in the energetic 'Vast' and the title track 'Wonderland'. In all, this is a splendid piece of work, perhaps a bit too gentle and nice but highly enjoyable nonetheless. So yes, I think I'd like to recommend this to all fans of Arnalds, Frahm, Plaid, Boards and so on. This makes an excellent addition to your soothing collection.
Serge
