TRACKS: 01 WIND SHOWER
PARTICLE
02 APRIL ~ FROM SEA SHELL (w/radiosonde)
03 DEEP UNDER
04 LOOPED LABYRINTH, DECAYED VOICE
05 EX.O.TICO
06 H U G B U G
07 UTOUTO (w/ ryan francesconi)
08 TSUBOMI, SAKU
09 A LAST NEXT
Though
electronic processing is used throughout it never feels synthetic
or cold, it’s always feels very real, natural and organic
as if growing from out of your play back system filling your listening
and head space with an often warming sonic glow.
- Silent Ballet
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.
Bitter Sweet is packaged in a 6-panel digipack with photography
throughout by Brooklyn-based artist and photographer Maki Kaoru.