Yui Onodera: Upcoming soundartist of 2008?

The subtle differences between the three albums also indicate that Yui Onodera does not yet appear to be one of those artists lazily repeating their formula with each new release. On “Substrate”, a level of microscopic particles is at the centre of attention: “-"I collect the small sounds that no one notices”, Yui Onodera says about “Substrate”, “Those 'Microsoundscapes' are very interesting in themselves. The evening sun quietly shines over the city.” As mentioned, environmental recordings are essential to his style, gently blending with the musical landscape. Contrary to other musicians, however, Yoi Onodera regards these field recordings with the same feelings as, say, a long-drawn, sustained major chord: “I listen to a lot of sounds with the mike in one hand. When those sceneries metamorphose into music, they give us a rich emotion. There's a depth to vibrating sound, along its flow. "

“Suisei” also feeds from this subtle contrast between emotional resonances and a pump organ. Here, though, the attention floats along the shore of a dreamy and unreal “macrosoundcape”, which Yui Onodera carefully erects from pure and minimal source material. Dale Lloyd puts it thus: “With Suisei, each listener's inner cinema will find its camera lens slowly panning and cross-fading from one enigmatic location to another, as if unveiling ambiguous visual clues pertaining to
some wondrous culminating event that many might not fully understand, yet it will still manage to leave an indelible impression upon the subconscious mind and a very subtle pull on the emotions.” He, too, had some extremely friendly and direct things to say about the Yui Onodera connection: “I am very excited, yes I am!”

To close things off, “Rhizome”, Yui Onodera’s CD on Gears of Sand, is already his 10th solo CD and, according to the label, “showcases his truly unique talents for sound design and electroacoustic experimentation.” First excerpts certainly show a very accessible side of Onodera, dreamy and lost in reveries full of piano chords melting in oceans of warm loops.

Expect us to feature these releases very soon. But don’t wait until then to drop by the MySpace profile of Yui Onodera to check out a wide selection of older and most recent tracks, giving you a perfect first introduction into his sound world.

Homepage: Yui Onodera
Homepage: Yui Onodera at MySpace
Homepage: Mystery Sea Records
Homepage: And/Oar Records
Homepage: Gears of Sand Records