Owl – Arashiyama

© Lowless Bandcamp

Unfortunately I don’t have this EP on my record shelf as the record was sold out in just a few hours after its release through the Paris based Label Lowless. Lowless focuses on Ambient and Deep Minimal; genres I absolutely adore and never get tired of listening to.

© Lowless Records

One of the artists, Owl and his release of 2019 Arashiyama is a worthwhile flagship model of the Lowless label and has some really promising deep tunes packed in its 4 tracks. It starts off with a very calm ambient entry: The mistiness of False Dawn: Triangle sounds, percussions, whistling, some bird sounds. As if someone is standing on a deserted glade and spots some shy birds rushing back into the deep woods to hide away. Bamboo Pillars follows up next and is the most powerful track of the EP: You hear some soft nature recordings. I can spot small, vivid birds, some windy sounds perceiving a dawny atmosphere. Then a strong and deep bass sets in, leading on with a minimalistic melody of a keyboard. The melody smoothly expands more and more, always accompanied with discreet nature sounds. For me it reflects the beauty of overgrowing nature and how it is able to cast a spell on oneself.

The more speedy deep techno-beat of Void Grasping, and as the title might suggest, comes along with a sense of uncertainty, or even contemplation. Once again a pretty powerful sound experience.

The EP closes up with a relatively standard deep-techno track Across the River, though its vibrancy complements the three last tracks with an upbeat finish.

With this record the artist Owl takes us through the woods of the Arashiyama valley, which lies at the foot of the Storm Mountain, ”嵐山“, surrounded by the Ōi River and a bamboo thicket. It is impressing how Owl manages to visualize these unique surroundings through his music- Arigatō!

© filckr.com

Listen Arashiyama on Spotify: