Following a career as an industrial rock vocalist, Tokyo-based Yuichi Nishikawa pivoted to composition after a vocal disorder, eventually scoring over 50 stage productions. His solo project SYLIANRUE presents Reflection, a meditative full-length that blends post-classical and electro-acoustic textures, gravitating from pure “healing” ambient music to instead embrace a coexistence of beauty and unsettling noise.

“Lost in Thought” opens the album with a serenely absorbing intrigue. Mellow, lullaby-set keys linger amidst a gentle rumbling, like a train car traversing softly through the night. This meditative blissfulness then moves into the album’s title track, a stunner that fondly recalls Ryuichi Sakamoto in its spacious swells of strings, utilizing both silence and string-laden power in navigating a grippingly introspective atmosphere. Rainfall sounds wash over the second half, caressing amidst sounds of bird-chirping. With its two opening tracks, the album quickly shows an ability to craft melodically memorable arrangements within deeply resonant soundscapes.

Reflection continuously captivates in its range of soundscapes, from mellowly absorbing to eerily chilling. The latter is present with “Floating Dust,” where ghostly ambient backings coexist with stop-start twinkling of piano; while the opening tracks exude a sort of peaceful realm, this track would feel more at home in a horror-themed video game, filled with fog and looming obstacles. “Yohaku” also achieves a spectral atmospheric pull, here with soft guitar layers that strut a solemn, bluesy emotion. Elsewhere, the gorgeous “Silencio” consumes with a dreamily inviting embrace, its lovely interplay of tender guitars and warm piano reminding of Nishikawa’s ability to craft beautifully serene atmospheres as well. Reflection is a fantastic, transportive album from SYLIANRUE.

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“Reflection” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.

We discovered this release via MusoSoup.

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