UNKNOWN ME - Bitokagaku [Clear Vinyl]

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: NNF413
Barcode: 843563174623
Release Date: 19 Jul 2024
Genre: Ambient/Electronic

PRESSED ON CLEAR VINYL IN FULL COLOUR REVERSE BOARD SLEEVE. ONLY 100 UNITS AVAILABLE. NON-RETURNABLE.

The second LP by Tokyo ambient conceptualists UNKNOWN ME began as a commission for historic Japanese cosmetic conglomerate Shiseido, conjuring audio approximations of seasons and scents, but soon flowered into its own refracted and rarefied environment: Bitokagaku. Translated as “beauty and science,” the album is the foursome’s first composed solely with software, reflecting the collection’s utopian, laboratorial muse.  

From levitational electronica (“A Rainbow in Meditative Air”) and vaporous downtempo (“Dancing Leaves”) to planetarium reverie (“Kitsune No Yomeiri”) and AI IDM (“Retreat Beats”), the music moves like weather patterns in a bio-dome: dazzling, microcosmic, and delicately calibrated. Percolating synths crossfade with field recordings from Shiseido’s research division; the sound of streams and distant birds blur into a processed haze; clinical voices read lists of precious stones. It’s a vision of new age as soft robotics, of serenity streamlined by sentient systems.
UM’s team of engineers (Yakenohara, P-RUFF, H. Takahashi, and Osawa Yudai) cite an eclectic swath of inspirations behind Bitokagaku – molecules, stars, Kenji Miyazawa, Akira Kurosawa, even “the sparkle of rainbows” – but their guiding artistic principle is as ancient as it is eternal: “beauty.”

Tracklisting: 
1. A Rainbow in Meditative Air 2. Dancing Leaves 3. The Universe in Ore (Paradise Mix)  4. Kitsune No Yomeiri  5. Retreat Beats 6. Mirage of Ocean (Science Edit)  7. Eternal Sunset 8. Beauty and Science