Motohiro Nakashima / Sea Of Thought / Flau

Currently describing himself as an “ambient folk” guitarist, Motohiro Nakashima, made his recorded debut with an album of delicate IDM, over 2 decades ago, on London’s Lo Recordings. Since the 2010s, Nakashima, himself haling from Fukuyama, in Japan’s southern Hiroshima prefecture, has been releasing music largely independently via Bandcamp. His latest long-player, however, is his second for Tokyo’s Flau. Across 10 tracks, the album is a musical mediation on the environmental crisis and our collective feeling of helplessness in the face of disaster capitalism. By design then, this an introspective and sometimes melancholy collection. Violinist / cellist Kumi Takahara, and ARAKI Shin on reeds and flutes, accompany Nakashima’s gentle picking, and grainy, glitchy treatments. Together, creating a suite of contemplative, electro-acoustic chamber pieces. Peaceful, pensive pastorals. The electronics generating either a static that crackles like flame, or dense detailed vapours of ghostly,…