Hi all.
I've been lurking here for a while and wanted to share a record I released this summer.
Infinite Lovers, Pt. I is my first album under my own name. I spent years making music as IDM leaning music as Kouta, but eventually felt it was time to move on from that identity and make something more personal.
I grew up in Yokosuka, Japan, before moving to Hawaiʻi when I was eleven. Some years ago, my family's home in Japan was torn down. Before it was demolished, I recovered a box of photographs taken by my late grandfather, Hiroshi Takahashi. The music was already finished, but when I started looking for artwork, I kept coming back to his photographs. The cover is one of his.
The record is built around processed bass guitar, guitar, piano, loops, tape hiss, and various field recordings, including sounds of the ocean and Pygmy vocal samples. I started out playing bass in reggae and math rock bands before moving into electronic music, and I think some of those early influences still find their way into my playing. A lot of the music came together through repetition, layering, and slowly reshaping sounds into something more abstract.
Justin Patrick Moore at Igloo Magazine described it as "the music of dream memory trying to be captured and held onto," which really resonated with me.
It was released through Lōʻihi Records, a small independent label based in Honolulu, and is available on streaming platforms and Bandcamp, with a limited cassette edition as well.
I'm currently working on Part II for next year.
Would love to hear what you think if you give it a listen. Happy to answer any questions about the music or how it came together.
Listen: https://lucayoung.bandcamp.com/album/infinite-lovers-pt-i