MIKO - CHANDELIER (CD)

"Miko (Rie Mitsutake) composes her songs in shades of light and dark. Based on the outskirts of Tokyo, she seeks out vibrant harmony and shimmering rhythms that coalesce to create micro-universes in song-form. On her sophomore album Chandelier, Miko creates a luminescent collection of songs that expand the unique and personal sound she explored on her debut album (issued by Plop). Working with organic instrumentation, led by voice, harmonic piano and restrained guitar lines, Miko utilises other less conventional elements (field recordings, unconventional percussion and more) to transform her songs from the everyday into something imaginary and evocative. Choosing the name 'Chandelier' both for its sound when said and its association with light, Miko's new album sees her inhabit an entirely warm and atmospheric song space. Its shapes and instruments bring to mind a new kind of folk music - in which the sounds of the spaces that fill her day connect with and influence the songs she writes. This is a profoundly enticing and personal space in which she is working and one that is illuminated by Miko's imagined song worlds." (label info)