Groove (DE)

When it comes to thinking ahead and developing contemporary forms of ambient and sound art, Sawako has been a continuous (unfortunately somewhat rarer in recent years), stable source of innovation and inspiration far beyond Japan for more than 20 years. Her sound was and is subject to constant change, and yet there are immediately recognizable constants in her work, which ranges from pure field recordings to deep listening, glitchy electronics and warm drones to J-Folk. It was always the loosely assembled structures, the fragile sounds on the edge of silence, that characterized their mostly short pieces, which seemed to be thrown about loosely, but were masterfully conceived and executed in detail. A universal tenderness, yes tenderness towards sound. That unique musical voice, that non-invasive, anti-aggressive kind of beauty is immediately and beautifully present on Stella Epoca (12K, November 4), her first official solo effort in almost a decade. The highly technical and abstracting algorithmic-generative production method of the pieces in no way diminishes this beauty.