Hatakeyama Chihei — Minima Moralia

Beauty is all around us, in every nook and granny of our existence. You just have to look for it, see things with fresh eyes. Minima Moralia seems to highlight the beauty of the mundane and make it sparkly so bright, but the sound is often touched by a fragile sadness.

Swaying curtain in the window, is like stepping out of a darken room into vivid sunlight. Your eyes hurt to begin with, but then your sucked in by the wonder of your surroundings; puddles glinting like mirrored sheets, sun warming your face and fresh sent of summer, floating in the air. Inside a pocket, comes off like a gentle mix of country air and urbane gloomy, like standing on a vast forest alive with animal noise, looking down into a smog hazed city in the valley bellow. Or walking through, long uninhabited city streets, lush greenery pouring and amassing, through the cracked and broken concert and tarmac skin of the city.

The album really does suck you in from the outset, leaving you in a warm and womb like environment. Clouds of acoustic guitars often drift into the audio picture, giving the whole proceedings, an air of timeless wonder. The music is often both delicate and dense in its sound field, making this one of the early highlights of the year.