Release : Sawako - Bitter Sweet
Artist : Sawako
Album : Bitter Sweet
Genre : Electronic
Source : CDDA
Label : 12k
URL : http://www.12k.com
Date : 05-00-2008
Encoder : LAME 3.97 / -V2 --vbr-new
Quality : 165kbps 44100 kHz Joint Stereo
Tracks : 9
Time : 49:07 min
Size : 58.71 MB
1 Wind Shower Particle 7:20
2 April ~ From Sea Shell (with radiosonde) 3:08
3 Deep Under 4:34
4 Looped Labyrinth, Decayed Voice 9:34
5 Ex.o.tico 2:10
6 H u g b u g 9:50
7 Utouto (with ryan francesconi) 4:01
8 Tsubomi, Saku 4:59
9 A Last Next 3:31
New York/Tokyo based Sawako is a musician, software designer, and multimedia
artist whose multi-disciplinary works intermix and pollenate her music with
inspiration ranging from nature, science, academia and poetic motion.
Following releases on Anticipate and And/Oar, Bitter Sweet is Sawako's 2nd
release on 12k after the critically acclaimed Hum (12k1035) in 2005. Her music
is fragile and intimate, delicate, ephemeral and resonant. Bitter Sweet is
unmistakably Sawako but finds itself moving into much, much deeper territory
than her previous works. Building on her past forays into experimental pop, she
uses low and mid-frequency drones and soft, melodic highlights to shape beds of
stripped-down, shifting into hypnotic and very linear tracks that fill the space
they exist. Bitter Sweet is more drone and tonal based than Sawako's previous
works. However, these gentle movements are punctuated by field recordings and
acoustic instrumentation with cello provided by Jacob Kirkegaard and guitar by
Radiosonde and Ryan Francesconi who also co-write two of the pieces on the
album. In what has become a bit of a signature, Sawako lends her own voice to
the ending lullaby "A Last Next." These combination produce rich results.
Bitter Sweet's diffuse and hazy soundscaping is Sawako's most mature work to
date, relying less on her previous child-like melodies while remaining feminine
and tender. She has come into her own after having established herself for a
number of years as a New Yorker where she has tirelessly performed, studied and
created as an important member of the city's electronic music community.