Unknown Me - Bitokagaku Unknown Me

Released: 19/07/24

The second LP by Tokyo ambient conceptualists Unknown Me began as a commission for historic Japanese cosmetic conglomerate Shiseido, conjuring audio approximations of seasons and scents, but soon flowered into its own refracted and rarefied environment:Bitokagaku. Translated as beauty and science, the album is the foursome's first composed solely with software, reflecting the collection's utopian, laboratorial muse.  

From levitational electronica (A Rainbow in Meditative Air) and vaporous downtempo (Dancing Leaves) to planetarium reverie (Kitsune No Yomeiri) and AI IDM (Retreat Beats), the music moves like weather patterns in a bio-dome: dazzling, microcosmic, and delicately calibrated. Percolating synths crossfade with field recordings from Shiseido's research division; the sound of streams and distant birds blur into a processed haze; clinical voices read lists of precious stones. It's a vision of new age as soft robotics, of serenity streamlined by sentient systems.

UM's team of engineers (Yakenohara, P-RUFF, H. Takahashi, and Osawa Yudai) cite an eclectic swath of inspirations behindBitokagaku“ molecules, stars, Kenji Miyazawa, Akira Kurosawa, even the sparkle of rainbows “ but their guiding artistic principle is as ancient as it is eternal: beauty.