Ytamo

Limited Leaf

RMSG023

April 24, 2020

Digital

A Note From Lawrence English

In 2004, I spent a few weeks touring across Japan. During these years of the early 00s I was fairly much touring Japan once or twice a year. It was a special time in many of the cities there. Tokyo was basking in the subtle glow of the Onkyo explosion and Osaka was busy producing a generation of experimental musicians who merged experimental pop, electronics, noise and punk aesthetics.

Somewhere on the furthest orbit of Osaka’s music scene was Ytamo. I recall vividly hearing her perform at Bridge, where we shared a bill. Her concert was completely transfixing. She managed to bring together the most unusual harmonies with song structures that had you humming along within bars. It was never truly clear where a song might head, but this only added to the excitement in hearing her concert. Each piece was a new path, cut freshly into a seemingly endless realm of acoustic possibility.

The following year I received this album from her. It brought sharply into focus the experiences I had enjoyed during her performance. This was music that was restlessly beautiful, like a landscape shrouded in mist; only in brief moments could the whole form be recognised and appreciated, but each second shared with it was utterly captivating. Still to this day I find this music completely unto itself.

Ytamo remains a beacon on inspiration and light. Something we can all do with more of in our lives.