Moon Light Reflecting Over Mountains CD

Since first emerging in 2006, Tokyo experimentalist Chihei Hatakeyama has been scarily prolific, releasing no less than 30 albums - mostly solo, but some with collaborators - on a dizzying variety of labels. On Moon Light Reflecting Over Mountains, his third full-length for Australia's Room 40 imprint, the Japanese producer once again blends becalmed, droning textures with quietly evolving melodies, effects-laden instrumentation, and an overriding sense of melancholy. You'll find plenty of My Bloody Valentine style shoegaze guitars buried in the mix, as well as heart-aching piano motifs, evocative field recordings and pads that seem to stretch on to infinity. The results are, for the most part, gentle and magical, like La Bradford jamming with Gigi Masin.