Lawrence English - Kiri No Oto

Lawrence English - Figure's Lone Static


Never before has an album so fully embodied my favorite audio and visual aesthetic (Tzesne's Cliffs Under The Mist is a close second, although too cliffy). There are few things I love more than the image of a seagull floating through a thick fog out at sea and Kiri No Oto sounds exactly like that. I almost changed my name to Grey (instead of Snow) when I got married and have been contemplating a seagull tattoo for quite a while (but am probably going to get one of the bunnies from this print that my wife made instead). I guess Lawrence English and I are on similar pages because his new album, Kiri No Oto (roughly translated as "the sound of fog") sounds pretty much like the first record I would make if I ever made music (and my follow up would probably sound a lot like Belong's October Language).

The entire album is simply beautiful. For the most part, it's very soft and always super subtle with very literal titles like "Organs Lost At Sea," "White Spray," and "Waves Sheer Light." And while this could be considered an "ambient" record, it isn't meant for sleepy-time. Not because you couldn't sleep to it (I assure you, you could) but because you shouldn't want to sleep to it. Kiri No Oto is full of such wonderfully fine delicacies you should want to spend the full 43 minutes sitting alone in a comfy recliner next to an open window blowing the cool salty sea breeze on your cheeks with a big pair of headphones on.

I just can't recommend English's new album enough. It's certainly not for everyone (not much I review is) but for those of you who have large gray pieces of art hanging on your walls just might be into this as much as I am.