Label: Ricordi & Sfera
Catalog#: SCD-002
Format: CD, Album
Country: Japan
Released: 2007
1 Honen-In 1 4:33
2 Honen-In 2 4:33
3 Honen-In 3 4:33
4 Gion 6:33
5 Bead 7:10
6 Trois Toy Piano 2:48
7 Fukuzo-In 4:33
8 A (440Hz) 3:43
京都のプロダクトブランド「スフェラ（Sfera）」が、ミラノ在住のサウンドアーティストGak Satoとともに展開したオリジナルCDシリーズ「CosmosSfera」の第2作。環境音や生楽器をポストエレクトロニカ的手法で構築した前作のスタイルを踏襲しつつ、本作では室内楽ユニットmama! milkの生駒佑子と清水恒輔を迎え、新たな方向性が探られています。
レコーディングは、京都の法然院、福蔵院、スフェラビルにて。3日間にわたるセッションの素材をもとに、Gak Satoが編集/再構築。トイピアノ、カリンバ、アコーディオン、オルガニート（手回し式オルゴール）、カシオトーン、コントラバス、クラリネット、バラフォン、竜笛、笙、さらにはサウンドホースや風鈴まで、多様な楽器や音具が用いられています。それぞれの場が持つ固有の空気感や気配のなかを、気まぐれに繰り返しては止まり、静かに漂う音のかけら。さまざまな音が不規則かつ不定形に交錯する様子は、公共空間に置かれた音響彫刻や自動演奏装置の動きを彷彿とさせるもので、それらが生み出す音を周りの環境も含めてまるごと作品化したかのような趣にも感じられます。音のエレメントの多くは西洋的でありながら、簡素な配置は日本庭園のよう。偶然と秩序が不思議な均衡を保ちながら共存する、穏やかで奇妙な音世界。全体として淡々として慎ましい作風ですが、ラストトラック「A（440Hz）」を聴き終えたあとに感じるじんわりとした余韻が実に佳いです。
This is the second installment in the original CD series “CosmosSfera,” developed by the Kyoto-based product brand “Sfera” alongside Milan-based sound artist Gak Sato. While following the style of the previous release—where ambient sounds and acoustic instruments were constructed through a post-electronica lens—this album seems to seek new directions by welcoming Yuko Ikoma and Kosuke Shimizu from the chamber music unit mama! milk.
Recording took place at Hōnen-in, Fukuzō-in, and the Sfera Building in Kyoto. Based on materials from three days of sessions, the tracks were edited and reconstructed by Gak Sato. A diverse array of instruments and sound objects find their way into the mix, including a toy piano, kalimba, accordion, organetto (hand-cranked music box), Casiotone, double bass, clarinet, balafon, ryuteki, shō, and even sound hoses and wind chimes.
Amid the distinct presence and atmosphere of each location, fragments of sound drift quietly, repeating and pausing on a whim. The way these varied movements intersect, irregularly and amorphously, briefly brings to mind sound sculptures or automated musical instruments placed in public spaces; there is a sense as if the very sounds they generate, along with the surrounding environment, have been captured whole as a piece of work.
While many of the sonic elements lean Western, the sparse arrangement evokes something akin to a Japanese garden—a gentle, peculiar sound world where chance and order coexist in a curious balance. While the overall tone remains detached, one is left with a warm, quiet afterglow after the final track, “A (440Hz),” fades away.
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