The way Ayuko Kurasaki, who creates music as Noah, describes her childhood home of Chitose in Hokkaido is so lovely that I¡¯m surprised it isn¡¯t being used in tourism ads.
¡°It¡¯s a wide-open place. There were forests near my house and I would see foxes, squirrels and woodpeckers,¡± she says. ¡°I used to draw or play piano in our backyard, under starlit skies with my pet dog.¡±
Kurasaki later moved to Iwakura in Aichi Prefecture, but the singer-songwriter conjures up these ¡°idyllic¡± backdrops throughout her debut ¡°Sivutie,¡± a sparse electronic album where her voice and piano drift like a winter¡¯s wind through the songs. It¡¯s the latest release from Tokyo¡¯s Flau imprint, and Kurasaki¡¯s work fits in just right among what my collegaue James Hadfield described as the label¡¯s ¡°world of hushed, understated beauty.¡±
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