"On this debut from Naoko Sasaki, alias Piana, connections are forged between the seemingly disparate fields of glitch processing and coy J-Pop. Coming across as a child's sketchbook or diary, there is a palapable sense of nostalgia in these lovely songs, powerful and moving evocations of a kid's world that vary int one from the tearful to the joyful to the fearful. Basing her fragile melodies on slow motion Satie-like chord patterns, employing piano, organ, occasional broken beats and beautifully measured guitar from Yuichiro Iwashita, Sasaki then destabalises the music by adding a low key firework display of static pops and hisses which serves as a brilliantly effective metaphor for a child's sense of wonder, distress, excitement and anxiety. The songs recall both the unsettling, naive sampladelica of Pop - Off Tuesday and Cocteau Twins at their heartstopping best." Review from the WIRE magazine
Snowbird, the debut album of Piana is one of my favorite albums of 2004. Thanks for directing me to her music.
In the mid '80s Canadian musician Jane Siberry put out a couple of cds -- "The Walking" and "Speckless Sky" -- which marvelously combined a literate yet child-like sense of wonder with what was then frontline technology. These albums had a cinematic density to them that rewarded multiple listens. But, perhaps most important for this listener Siberry, with her disarmingly self-deprecating vocal gymnastics managed to express a sense of joy and wonder that was absent in all but the most superficial forms in popular culture of the time.
Well, here comes Piana. While I have only a second-hand comprehension of her lyrics, the music, with it's glitch aesthetic, heads out into very similar territory as Siberry did in the '80s. Yes, she wanders awfully close to j-pop, but let's hope she manages to steer clear of that puddle.
Two Insiders on the Dark...
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WNYC: "Former journalists Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian talk...
"On this debut from Naoko Sasaki, alias Piana, connections are forged between the seemingly disparate fields of glitch processing and coy J-Pop. Coming across as a child's sketchbook or diary, there is a palapable sense of nostalgia in these lovely songs, powerful and moving evocations of a kid's world that vary int one from the tearful to the joyful to the fearful. Basing her fragile melodies on slow motion Satie-like chord patterns, employing piano, organ, occasional broken beats and beautifully measured guitar from Yuichiro Iwashita, Sasaki then destabalises the music by adding a low key firework display of static pops and hisses which serves as a brilliantly effective metaphor for a child's sense of wonder, distress, excitement and anxiety. The songs recall both the unsettling, naive sampladelica of Pop - Off Tuesday and Cocteau Twins at their heartstopping best." Review from the WIRE magazine
