The first album in a new collaboration between Tokyo artist Teruyuki Kurihara and London drone pop band The Leaf Library.
The nine tracks here have in common a metallic hum and a minimal, austere kind of beauty that recalls Teru's work on his 2020
Frozen Dust album (Mille Plateaux). Machine tones mix with static, noise and warm drones, whilst in other places the lineage of classic mangled Warp hardware is visible.
In March 2020 The Leaf Library sent their friend Teru a batch of synth drones to play with in the hope a new collaboration would be born.
"From the first time we heard Teru's music we knew we wanted to make something with him," says the band. "It has been such a pleasure seeing him take our minimal synth parts and turn them into something really strange and beautiful."
The track Kite Beach was the first to arrive, featuring on The Leaf Library-curated Object Ten compilation on Objects Forever in 2021, with the rest of the album slowly appearing over the last year.
The Leaf Library are a north London band playing experimental dream-like music built on layers of chiming guitars, pulsing electronics, noise and looping drones. They have released several studio albums as well as a number of electronic and experimental albums and EPs, singles, remix compilations and long form tracks.
The band have collaborated with musicians as diverse as The Clientele's Alasdair MacLean, singer Ed Dowie, noise group Far Rainbow, electronic musician
Teruyuki Kurihara and the Iskra Strings group, and have provided music for a number of exhibitions, films and installations.
The band formed in the mid 2000s around singer Kate Gibson and ex-Saloon guitarist Matt Ashton. After the departure of their original drummer Rob Smoughton (Hot Chip, Black Peaches) the band (including bass player Gareth Jones of Wintergreen) recruited drummer Lewis Young and guitarist SJ Nelson releasing their debut Daylight Versions in 2015. In their live shows the carefully constructed and occasionally delicate sound world of their records is replaced by a much noisier and intense experience, helped by the addition of vocalist/percussionist Melinda Bronstein, saxophonist Daniel Fordham (The Drink, Steven Adams and the French Drops) and flugelhorn player Laura Copsey of fellow drone pop travellers Firestations. Associated Leaf Library bands include Beneather (drummer Lewis Young) Sea Glass (guitarist Matt Ashton, Melinda Bronstein and Firestations guitarist Mike Cranny), The Nameless Book (guitarist SJ Nelson), Wintergreen (bassist Gareth Jones), Rushes and Steven Adams & The French Drops (both saxophonist Daniel Fordham), Melinda Bronstein solo and Basic Design (Matt again).
Teruyuki Kurihara is a music producer and artist from Japan born in 1979. He started his electronic solo project Cherry in 2007 after playing in some bands. The Alex EP was released in 2009 by the Four: Twenty label based in Bristol. He has released more music on a number of labels, from home and abroad (including Blue Tapes and Organic Industries).
He has spent time between 2012-2014 living and playing live in Australia, Thailand, England, and Germany, experiences that inspired him to begin his art practice.
His style has been described as "marvellous and elaborate lines in minimal design". He has been part of group exhibitions in Berlin, before returning to Japan and making illustrations for Tomoki Tamura's Holic Trax. In addition he has exhibited and made live paintings at festivals including Re:birth and Rural. He has been expanding his artistic horizons including both music and drawing art.
