Before Sunset, Street Corner, Cafe Fabre is a collaboration between 2 generations of electronic innovators. Yasushi Yamashita is a member of the duo, Inoyama Land, who have been producing groundbreaking music since the early 1980s. ASUNA is the alias of Naoyuki Arashi, a currently Kanazawa-based sound designer / artist, who has been prolific since the turn of millennium. 

The album consists of 13 segued tracks. All imaginative, playful and light. Beginning with bubbles and “Speak & Spell” introductions, before falling into gentle, glitched chaos. A tender, techno trickling that’s stretched into sine waves that sing like Tibetan bowls, and lower, oboe-like tones, while relaxed rhythms click and tick like intricate clockwork. Metallic springs being plucked. 

Its ambient atmosphere surrounds the listener, calming the air, eccentrically, yeah, but seemingly effortlessly. In a manner very similar to Aus and The Humble Bee’s recent Chalybeate. Building from quiet, countering elements to a tropic of rapid, insect-like chirruping and showers of space-y particles. A sparkling sonic stream, busy with motion. Manufactured from twisted bicycle bells and modular sources. Beacons of blinking, winking signals. Like a genial extra-terrestrial transmission. A field recording from an alien world. Summoning exotic creatures and surreal landscapes. Weaving in more familiar elements, such as temple tingsha and high school melodica. Buzzers, alarms. A children’s music box. Warped as if its mechanism is winding down. 

Unashamedly shiny and digital, typically, for both artists, the creations still manage to conjure the organic: wildlife chatter and babbling brooks. A peaceful expanse of rich green. Loops and processing sometimes suggesting oceans and surf. The abstract shorts adding up to a cohesive whole. Again, like the aforementioned partnership between Aus and The Humble Bee, this is an album that’s best enjoyed by simply sitting back and letting the compositions / improvisations transport you into its delicate, densely detailed world. 

Yasushi Yamashita & Asuna’s Before Sunset, Street Corner, Cafe Fabre can be ordered directly from Kanu Kanu.