New Emerald Four: “Moon Song”

ByPatrick St. Michel

Programming Note – Just got back from a small vacation in the southern hemisphere, hence the lack of posts. But from here until Christmas, I’m not going anywhere, so hopefully things will be a bit more constant. Now, to start sorting through new Japanese music…

Expect this opening paragraph a lot over the next month…November means year-end reflection is coming up, which means a lot of looking back at the music that came out over the past 12 months. One of the best releases out of Japan this year…and one that feels like it slipped through the cracks a bit, or maybe it has just been awhile since it came out…is Kyoto outfit Emerald Four’s Nothing Can Hurt Me, a woozy, heartsick album that still feels like a drift through space. “Space” is the key word, because what Emerald Four do so well is make the most of silence. Newest song “Moon Song” – if the cosmo-floating vibe needed more evidence behind it – shows the duo’s skills in this regard particularly well. Like a lot of their music, it starts with a flush of synths and slowly adds new elements…mainly more synths, though eventually a tiny beat and vocals emerge. From there, they build a song, using the room created by their minimalist approach to make the chorus land all the stronger. Listen above.

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