Back catalogue: Modern Classical

Review: This is a second new and standalone 7" that is taken from Incense Music for Bed Room, a new compilation series from Incense Music that was curated by Toru Hashimoto and legendary Japanese downtempo and Balearic master Calm. On the A-side, we delve into Haruka Nakamura's beautiful tribute to Bill Evans' timeless piece 'Soiree'. On the flip, 'Valsa de Euridice' is a rendition of Vinicius de Moraes' classic from Etepalma, the inaugural 2006 album by Nobuyuki Nakajima. Renowned as a composer and pianist, Nakajima presents a captivating interpretation that captures the essence of the original piece. Together, these tracks offer a harmonious blend of homage and reinterpretation.

Review: Haruka Nakamura's Light Years: The North Face Sphere Spring & Autumn is a soundtrack that the Japanese composer created in response to a request from outdoor clothing brand The North Face to create an album for each of the four seasons. Two of his works feature here with changing acoustics, different melodies and gentle grooves conveying the evolving weather. The sounds have been made with various materials and instruments such as acoustic guitar, bass, sampling and chorus. It's a widescreen and immersive album where harmony and nostalgia happily coexist.

Review: Ambient mastermind Haruka Nakamura continues to execute his scheme to produce four albums centring on a verdant theme - "Forest" (Aoimori). This time he shares the third album in the slated quadriptych. Building on the legend that the birthplace of all musical instruments was the forested area, the Aoimori series also takes after Nakamura's own formative proximity to a "Blue Forest" near his hometown. Not stooping to the low of assuming that electronica might become abstracted from the groves, canopies and coppices of the world, the artist maintains the fact that forest music is synth music; out from a chromatic four-piece set of introductory songs, 'Blue', 'True' and 'White' included, we move with Nakamura into a serene, happily directionless wooded wandering, reaching the minimalistic aerations of 'Lake' and the earthen excavations and lyses of 'Soil'. By the end of the record, we find ourselves indebted, in 'Silence', to an artist whose tonal sensitivities and peacefully restless, steadfast ambient compositions compel us to rewild the proverbial nature reserve.