Chihei Hatakeyama - void XXII (White Paddy Mountain)

WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE:

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WHAT WE SAY:

Japanese ambient hero Chihei Hatakeyama has beamed his first 2021 transmission into this world through his own White Paddy Mountain portal, & as you would expect it's the perfect lazy Sunday soundtrack.

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WHAT YOUR EARS SAY:

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WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY:

Void 22 is the latest in the Void series, which has previously been released digitally and on CDR, and the first in the Void series to be released on CD. This is the second album in the Chinese history series, following the previous album "Autumn Breeze", which was inspired by the achievements of Zhuge Liang in "the Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel". This film was heavily inspired by the writings of Miyazaki Ichisada (mainly related to Chinese history), which dynamically portrayed the joys, sorrows and foolishness of human beings, which is also relevant to today's difficult world with the coronavirus. Therefore, this album contains many melodic pieces based on the writings of Miyazaki Ichisada and the situation of contemporary society.

The songs have been selected from recordings made in 2020 and have been composed to sound like the soundtrack to a fictional film. Some of the tracks have been recorded on cassette tape and then re-processed, so that the lo-fi textures and hiss of the sound become part of the sound.


『Void XXII』はこれまでデジタルやCDRでリリースされてきたVoidシリーズの最新作で今回はvoidシリーズとしては始めてCDとしてリリースされる。三国志の諸葛亮孔明の事績からインスピレーションを受けて制作された前作『Autumn Breeze』に続く中国史シリーズの２作目となっている。今作では主に宮崎市定の著作（主に中国史関係）から多大なるインスピレーションを受けたものになっていて、そこにはダイナミックに人間の喜怒哀楽や愚かしさなどが描かれており、このコロナウィルスで困難な現代社会にも通じるものがあった。そこで今作ではこの宮崎市定の著作や現代社会の状況を受けメロコリンックなものが多く収録されている。

収録曲は2020年に録音された曲からセレクトされており、全体として架空の映画のサウンドトラックとして響くように構成した。またいくつかの曲ではカセットテープに録音し、それをまた加工するという試みもなされていてサウンドのローファイな質感やヒスノイズなどもサウンドの一部となって響くようになっている。 

Credits:
cover photo by jack garland

all songs recorded during May 2020 to October 2020
edited and mixed during May 2020 to January 2021
all music written, mixed and mastered by Chihei Hatakeyama

www.chihei.org
chihei-mastering.com

IF YOU LIKE THAT YOU'LL PROBABLY LIKE THIS:

Slow Ambient playlist: https://sdz.sh/nYQmuR (Smartlink to the playlist on Apple Music, Deezer, Soundcloud, Youtube and Spotify)