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Piana - Ephemeral
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Year :: 2005
Label :: Happy
Cat No :: HAP003
Genre :: Electronic
Tracks :: 09
Size :: 52,8 MB
Source :: CDDA
Bitrate :: VBRKBps
Rel. Date :: 10-11-2005
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Listening to Piana's exquisite 'Ephemeral' (the
follow up to 2003's similarly stunning 'Snow Bird') I
was struck by the parallels in terms of mood and
outlook with the author Haruki Murakami; a drifting
lightness of touch that is utterly captivating and
apparently uncontrived which leads you to a dewy-eyed
destination they had planned all along. I then read
an interview with Naoko Sasaki (aka Piana) where she
said much the same thing, making me look like a
press-release plagiaristà well I oughta! So BEAUTIFUL
it more than deserves caps lock, 'Ephemeral' is the
kind of record that makes you look on the world in a
different fashion; utterly beguiling and iridescent,
albeit given a healthy dusting of pathos. Whilst
Piana's last album was a genre-defying tract of
glitch-pop that erred on the side of the former,
'Ephemeral' flips the tables and unashamedly embraces
the latter, liberally dousing the soaring soundscapes
with a grade-A vial of friable pop acumen. Opening
with 'Something Is Lost', Sasaki eases the listener
in through a blossom fall of rustling clicks and
diffused melodies that frame the vocals to
perfection. Similarlily, 'Early In Summer' takes you
by the hand and reveals a swelling thicket of Puccini
strings that soar with such grace you'll be left
breathless, whilst lazy beats build a crystalline
foundation for Sasaki's honey-dipped voice; resultant
in a sound reminiscent of Mum's 'Green Grass of
Tunnel'. Elsewhere, 'Little Girl Poems' ups the
glitch for a composition that drips with grace and
unconstrained radiance, 'Mother's Love' strips it
back to the basics (guitar and piano) for a
heart-wrenching nugget of aural gold, whilst the
album closes with 'Beginning', a brief but eminently
powerful burst of muted rectitude. If that all sounds
like we're gushing; it's because we are, and on the
off chance you're still undecided we'll reiterate;
THIS RECORD IS AMAZING. Never mind the hyperbole,
it's Piana.
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[01] Something Is Lost [06:47]
[02] Early In Summer [05:55]
[03] Beside Me [05:17]
[04] Color Of Breeze [01:08]
[05] Little Girl Poems [06:17]
[06] Muse [02:30]
[07] Mother's Love [05:12]
[08] Moon And Cello [04:53]
[09] Beginning [02:25]
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UK Independent