Nikasaya - One Summerheim (CD + Download)

In the summer of 2009, Hiroshima based songwriter Nikaido Kazumi and Tokyo’s Saya (Tenniscoats) met at Guggenheim house, in Shioya. Overlooking the bay of Kansai, the pair set about recording a collection of songs that capture moments of utterly euphoric song – housed in a shimmer of incidental soundscapes.

Recording both inside and outside Guggenheim House, the pair’s songs find a perfect union with the architectural and urban spaces in which they were situated. ‘Yuka’ and ‘Osiro’ for example allow the epic high ceilinged rooms of Guggenheim House to shroud Nikasaya’s voices in astounding natural reverbs, whilst ‘Ufun Taxi’ features percussive textures care of passing trains and ‘Buun’ an unexpected duet with an over excited Semi (cicada).

One Summerheim melds free-pop structures with elegantly intertwined vocal harmonies. Building on the unique songform found on the duets debut ‘Ipiya’, One Summerhiem sees two of Japanese preeminent and visionary voices re-united.

Nikasaya’s songs are more than the sum of their parts – they soar in a glorious cluster of swirling vocal melodies and instrumental flows that are harmonic, hummable and most of all heartwarming.

One Summerheim also features contributions from Ueno (Tenniscoats), Lawrence English and Meco.