"The End Isn't the End" in which the tapestry woven by the arpeggio of the guitar spreads in the space like a constellation, this song was commissioned by The New York Times and was made for the documentary film below. 

nyti.ms/2pAesVo
https://vimeo.com/298466006

Motohiro Nakashima hails from Fukuyama, a city near Hiroshima. Noted for his fingerstyle guitar, and an experimental, ambient approach to making music, Nakashima debuted from Lo Recordings (Thurston Moore, Susumu Yokota, Luke Vibert) and has three albums from several labels.
Gathering The Light is his most personal work to date. Combining fingerstyle guitar and ambient instrumentation for emotive minimalist soundscapes, the album illustrates the universal search for light in the darkness, beauty in melancholy.

Motohiro Nakashima - The End Isn't the End

Machinone - Thma Lupaus

Mothfly is the music project of Eunice Kim, who was born and raised in Tokyo and currently spends her time between Korea, Japan, and the US. She is a multi-talented artist who not only makes music, but also illustrates and works in media art. She produces experimental pop that mixes electronic elements with warm acoustic sounds.
Her first single Pure is a minimal dream pop track that undulates between melancholy and hope. It layers fragile but warm sounds from electric and acoustic cello, analog synthesizer, and voice.

"Writing this song served as a kind of meditative healing process for me. It’s about mourning lost innocence. I recorded it in my room and my friend’s room in Seoul and Los Angeles. I wanted to convey a sense of sincerity and intimacy through the rawness of the arrangement and the recording." - Eunice Kim

Mothfly - Pure

El Embrujo / Sinesis Duo (Quique Sinesi - Augusto Sinesi)

"Miroir" is the second release of Berlin based duo NOUS - Marie Séférian and Henning Schmiedt.
 The poetic album deals with space, reflections, surrealism. 

After their post chanson debut album "Je Suis", the duo now creates an atmospheric soundtrack for an imaginary film. "Hoffmanniana" is the title of director Andrei Tarkovsky's scenario for a movie about the 19th-century German poet E.T.A. Hoffmann, a project he could never realize. Tarkovsky felt profoundly connected to the German Classicistic period and Hoffmann, who used surreal and sarcastic elements in his short stories. 
Some of the album's songs reflect scenes written in Tarkovsky's scenario directly – E.T.A.'s penchant for cats, for instance, the mystic mirror tales, and his surrealistic settings find their way into Marie's lyrics.

nous - Miroir

Originally released in 2011, Janis Crunch & haruka nakamura’s collaboration album “12 & 1 SONG” is now reissued on vinyl for the first time. 

On a wintery night in 2007, the duo were in a recording session for haruka nakamura’s solo album “grace”. Instinctively, they decided to venture off the album recording and to compose a Christmas carol of their own. The track was christened “12 & 1 song” and then published online on a time-limited basis during the Christmas season. The spontaneous sessions spawned a few more winter-themed compositions and quickly became favourites among fans of both haruka nakamura and Janis Crunch. Even as the two ventured apart on other projects, their creative bond sustained this year-end tradition till a substantial collection of winter-themed songs, recorded between 2007-2011, was borne.

Janis Crunch’s warm, sonorous vocals ring bright and true above haruka nakamura’s placid classical guitar and soundscape arrangements. The former reveals the heart of her compositional skills of her primary instrument, in particular her solo piano performances on “SOLITUDE” and “Reqiuem”. “12 & 1 song”, “nuit” and “prayer” promptly bring to mind the early signature sounds of haruka nakamura. ARAKI Shin, who has been featured prominently on haruka nakamura 2nd album “twilight”, collaborates with the flute on “insincere love”. A treasury of 13 compositions themed with hazy childhood memories and the phenomena of the winter solstice, at times tender and childlike, yet at others, imbued with a sense of humanity and world-weariness, glow with the warmth of a log fire. 

The vinyl edition will be released on December 16, 2022 via KITCHEN. LABEL. Remastered by Gen Tanabe in Japan, the reissue is presented in a 12” outer sleeve and 4-page insert, printed on premium paper stock with artwork faithful to the design on the original first press edition. The package also comes with a digital download card that contains six bonus tracks that were recorded during the original sessions, five of which were previously made available as digital downloads on earlier editions and one of which, "A graca economica de Deus," has not yet been released.

Janis Crunch & haruka nakamura - SOLITUDE (12 & 1 SONG, 2022)

The French word for "rays of light", Rayons, is beginning to luminescence again. With a beautiful refrain of heart-touching strings as an homage to Johann Johannsson, Rayons returns after a long break. Having honed her skills through experience in hit movies, TV anime series, and commercials, her music has evolved to express emotions in a more simple and minimalistic way.

Rayons' music offers a fresh taste that weaves new elements into classical music perfectly. She is set to release two new singles as part of her new single series.

Rayons - Luminescence

Fog Moon

hibi(original by Re:Lilly)

ironomi - 夏虫色

Tracklist:
01. EVENFALL
02. OBSCURE DUSK
03. SINUSOIDAL PIRR
04. SOLEMN SOLACE
05. NIGHTFALL
06. INTERMISSION I : HÆTU
07. ETHEREAL COSMOS (ft. Okamotonoriaki, Kent Lee)
08. ANDROMEDIDS
09. COSMIC INFLATION (ft. Flica)
10. INTERMISSION II : ARÊTE
11. DAWNFALL

EVERY SINGLE DAY, OUR LIVES REVOLVES AROUND A SPIRAL OF SYSTEMATICAL LOOPS OF ACTIVITIES THAT SEEMS TO STATE OUR EXISTENCE IN THIS EARTH. THE MUNDANE DAYS AND ROUTINES THAT WE ENDURE AWAITS THE ARRIVAL OF THE WEEKENDS, WHERE WE SEEK COMFORT AND REST. THE CYCLE REPEATS TO FULFIL ONE GOAL AFTER ANOTHER, WHICH WILL LAST THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. WE CONSTANTLY SEEK FOR LOVE, FILLING THE EMPTINESS INSIDE WHENEVER IT COLLIDES WITH SOLITUDE. IN THIS DAY AND AGE, IT IS INEVITABLE THAT SOCIAL MEDIA AND MATERIALISM HAS OFTEN PLAYED A PART IN THIS FACADE TO SHELTER OURSELVES FROM THE ABYSS OF THE INSECURITIES SCREAMING FROM WITHIN. AMONG ALL OF THESE CATASTROPHIC SELF-SEARCHING EVENTS, YET IRONICALLY AT TIMES A BLESSING IN DISGUISE, WE FIND OURSELVES SEEKING FOR SOLACE

And like anyone of us, a Korean born musician, Dae Kim fnds his comfort in his frst LP, entitled Solace. In the midst of his soul-searching voyage, it has occurred to Dae that there is no other way to fnd comfort in life than fulflling one’s mandate, which in this case for him is by making music. Just like the mechanism of nature in this earth, every element took place to serve its core purpose. Hence, throughout this album, Dae was able to portray his perspective of this expedition through a soundscape of the living world. The three main themes entitled “Evenfall”, “Nightfall” and “Dawnfall” acts as a mould to the album with it’s looping melody lines and thematic structure.

Working for more than two years for his album, Dae Kim has took the approach of combining acoustic instruments from rhodes, piano, guitars, accordion to analogue synthesisers and turntables to create sounds of many colours. After spending countless nights in his bedroom drafting from one melody line to an ensemble track, he was fearless in trying new sounds and arrangements. With a mixture of electronica, ambient and acoustic, he was able to create songs that carries strong messages with a heartfelt innocence. As you could find the profound usage of these instruments throughout the album, it is hard to deny that Dae’s core inspirations such as Vangelis, Ennio Moricone and A winged victory of the Sullen (just to name a few), has played a part in shaping the overall soundscape of this production.

Playing a signifcant part in bringing this album to its fruition, is a strong line-up of musician collaborators. Bassist Kent Lee has showed his ability as a versatile musician through songs like “Obscure Dusk”, “Solemn Solace” and “Hætu” which carries the weight of the album’s theme between its heartwarming bass lines. He also did an additional composition for the seventh track, providing the drive and thrust for the song. Besides that, renowned ambient/electonica musician, Flica added an eccentric touch to the track “Cosmic Inﬂation” with his overdrived keys and alluring melody lines. It is as though in the midst of these indentation, there is peace and calmness. Last but not least on the featured artist is the Japanese born composer, Okamotonoriaki. Through his simple and benign repetition of vocal and harmonies, Okamotonoriaki was able to bring forth a sense of resolution through his work on the track “Ethereal Cosmos”. The album was mastered by Chihei Hatakeyama from Tokyo, who brought the entire album to it’s life and fruition.

“Solace” is Dae Kim’s journey of fnding his comfort amongst his vagrancy and it has been a rewarding one thus far. In this 52 reminiscing minutes of music, it stands for something more for the listeners. A time to reﬂect or a moment of catharsis, it is Dae Kim’s biggest hope for everyone who stumble upon this album to fnd their own solace amidst the pandemonium of our generation.

Solace

mnc018

Solace / Dae Kim (album sample mix)

FLAU is a record label based in Tokyo, Japan.

general inquires: flau@flau.jp
press: press@flau.jp

Motohiro Nakashima/Kumi Takahara/Seigen Tokuzawa & Masaki Hayashi/Kazumichi Komatsu/FEM/Spring In A Small Town/The Future Eve feat. Robert Wyatt/Same Waves/Cicada/Madegg/Henning Schmiedt/CRYSTAL/Rayons/Nemui PJ (kidkanevil & noah)/Noah/Submerse/Radicalfashion/Stefan Jós/Cuushe/Rima Kato/Machinone/Ulises Conti/Danny Norbury/Sparrows/IKEBANA/Ensemble 0/Masayoshi Fujita/El Fog/Liz Christine/Twigs & Yarn/MayMay/Cokiyu/Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven/Kanazu Tomoyuki/The Boats/Kumisolo/Novisad/aus/Dale Berning/Part Timer/Colophon(Jefre-Cantu Ledesma)/Geskia/Orla Wren/Sylvain Chauveau

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nous - Miroir

FLAU

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