Yamaoka - Small Theater

Release Date: 09/02/2022There’s ambient, and, well, there’s ambient. There are also artists who can drone on and on, who can drone with the best of them, and even over the breadth of a full CD or respectfully-sized catalog still manage to say very little. Yamaoka is not one of these artists.  On the contrary, his is a soundworld forever in evolution, where texture is so finely-wrought and considered it is virtually de-texturalized, his practice being a crash-course in studio dynamics, studio exploration, studio ingenuity. Once again gracing Carpe Sonum with his presence, Yamaoka ratchets the emotional atmospheric level up to ten, ravishing us with wave after wave of aural balm, sensory deprivation, and tonal technique. But gorgeous as it all is, floral wallpaper it sure ain’t.  Rather, these ten slices of discrete music have a habit of sneaking up on you; what seems like a collection of sonic zircons are actually finely-buffed diamonds. The opening track's lush life cascades about th