Thursday 8 August 2013

CUUSHE TWILIGHT

I first stumbled across Japanese artist Cuushe when I covered her for Dummy magazine - in particular it was the beautiful video for her equally beautiful song 'Airy Me'. Lovely stuff. It came as a re-edit of a track from her debut album Red Rocket Telepathy. Now, however, we are focused wholeheartedly on her new album called Butterfly Case, which is where this particular song - 'Twilight' - comes from.

It's quite beautiful, much like the other song of hers that I wrote about. And I think in that point you can find a comfortable level of constancy within the work of the Kyoto-born-but-Berlin-based Cuushe (real name I-don't-know): beauty. The first thing you notice, regardless of what the music is doing - which is not to say that the music, the "sounds", are not important - is Cuushe's voice. It's always quite a breathtaking experience listening to her voice. If not breathtaking, then at least undeniably relaxing. Which is kind of the same thing: it takes your energy away, saps you, lays you down and caresses your eyelids and eardrums. It's really no different in 'Twilight'; whispering, it feels closer to you, more personal, heartfelt, even secret.

Get involved.

Produced by flau records label boss aus, there's glossy bass like crystal water rushes behind wobbling synths and real instrument (piano) sounds that glitter over the top like little drops of sunlight. Everything is in some way distorted, especially when it reaches the shimmering middle section, where a muffled kick sound begins to take control, and trance-like synths bust in. Frantic percussion, sounding like the rapid turning of pages, joins in whilst the whirlwind of slow sounds continues to blow its gusts of hazy synth wash.

It calms down towards the end, becoming much like it was at the beginning. Twilight is a time of not-day and not-night, and this song is not-energetic and not-chilled at the same time: it is a world of magic floating-down-a-river meditative relaxation combined with active movement that brims with life. It really is something that's nice to listen to - this contrast works really well. If you like this then you'd probably like it all - it's out 23rd September on the indomitable flau records.

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