Yui Onodera — Semi Lattice

Yui Onodera is a soundscape composer active since 2005, with a sporadic stream of releases.  This new Baskaru release "Semi Lattice", as well as two other new albums in 2015, break a 4 year silence.  This is my first experience with Onodera's work.

I find it pleasingly similar to my favorite ambient music, which is largely Italian, most notably the work of Alio Die and Aglaia.  This style of soundscape is not minimal or superficially monotonous as a lot of traditional Eno-derived ambient music tends to be, instead it is an ocean of unknown depth, in which vague forms of many distant objects can be discerned.  No moment is like any other, no particular chord or mood is held for long; it is an acqueous journey in which the composition of the water itself changes as one travels.

To my understanding, this sound is created through processed instrumental improvisation, allowing the complex irregularities of natural and acoustic timbres to break from their traditional grounded contexts and immerse within a shimmering wave.  The phasing, radiant beauty of the sound can't be explained by any type of electronic processing I've ever had access to...  perhaps some vintage hardware reverb and chorus units?  The iridescent, constantly shifting timbre utterly baffles the mind, unable to discern whether its origin natural or synthetic.

Somehow, in this style of composition, timelessness is nearly achieved, a constant sense of momentum without any connection to beginning, middle, or end, a relentless morphing, the true shape of reality.

I absolutely loved this album.  Its sublime textural beauty channels the same blissful realms explored by Robin Guthrie / Cocteau Twins or dub techno artists like Basic Channel, though Onodera's sound tends more toward freeform ambience.  This wondrously deep recording is an absolutely top shelf ambient disk to be played alongside by my favorite Alio Die and Aglaia records.  I am inclined to investigate Onodera's back catalogue.