Winter Ambience Front Cover

Winter Ambience

Tokyo Ambient Collective

Track List

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An ambient music from the deeply snow-covered country.

This is the fifth album 'Winter Ambience' from Tokyo Ambient Collective, a non-fixed member ambient music project. The album was recorded by the founder members; Takahiro Kido, a composer who works as a member of Anoice, Kenji Azuma, an instrumentalist who plays various unusual instruments from around the world, and Sami Elu, the world's only player of the pixiechord, a handmade wooden string instrument made up of scrap materials, and Yuki Murata, a pianist/composer and a member of Anoice, and in addition, Alessandro Ambrosi who is a new member and accordionist from Italy.

The album 'Winter Ambience' was created around the theme of winter, as the album name suggests, and was recorded by all improvisational performances just like the previous works from Tokyo Ambient Collective. However, the most notable point of this album is the multicolored timbre of the accordion performed by Alessandro Ambrosi. You can hear the mysterious sounds like a shō that is a Japanese traditional instrument used for one of the traditional music genres, Gagaku, on the opening track 'ready for winter', followed by 'polar bear', and also the idyllic sounds on gentle tracks such as 'life in the highlands' and 'snowmelt'.

Also, it is characterized by the four members other than Alessandro Ambrosi having took turns playing the piano, handpan, glockenspiel, Kalimba, and synthesizer. You can especially feel the individuality of each member's sound of the piano. In addition, two whistles, bawu and native american flute performed by Kenji Azuma have a good effect on filled the recordings with colour.

This is a masterpiece of ambient music which is expressed from a long and harsh winter, to a gentler winter, warmed up by the fireplace.

Artist Profile

  • Tokyo Ambient Collective

    Tokyo Ambient Collective is an ambient music project established by Tokyo-based international artists; Takahiro Kido, Kenji Azuma, and Sami Elu. Takahiro Kido is a member of Anoice, RiLF, and Films. Kenji Azuma is a percussionist who plays several kinds of instrument. Sami Elu is the world's only player of the pixiechord, a handmade wooden string instrument made up of scrap materials. Tokyo Ambient Collective started when Takahiro Kido and Kenji Azuma met by chance in the woods, but this is non-fixed member project and several artists join the sessions irregularly. In 2020, they released the first album 'Healing for Damages' recorded by improvisation at Ricco Label Office. It includes three tracks featuring the airy and beautiful sounds recorded with GANK Drums, Karimba, Pixiechord, Synthesizer, Glockenspiel, etc. which they each brought. In 2021, they released their second album, 'Scattered Light', recorded at a Buddhist temple located at the foot of a forest. Yuki Murata, a pianist/composer, who is also a member of Anoice, RiLF, and Films, joined the improvisation sessions. For this album the group also enlisted heavily reverb effected electric guitars, a Black Raven, which is a Russian ocarina which supplies double notes, and a Koshi Chime, which is a French chime tuned with chords. Additionally, you can hear the beautiful sound of a vibraphone consistently throughout the album. The third album 'Glow in the Dark Moon' released in 2022 was produced by two of the founding members; Takahiro Kido and Kenji Azuma, and recorded by improvisational performances over a three-day period. For this recording, they were not only joined by fellow founding member, Sami Elu, and Yuki Murata, 'Scattered Light', but also by two new musicians; Keiji Takeda, a violinist who is also active as a countertenor, and Maryse Dumas, an ambient musician from Canada who plays several kinds of flute and singing bowl. By having been recorded by a total of six players, the GANK Drums, Karimba, Pixiechord, and Synthesizer which were featured on their previous album were accompanied by some new instruments such as Violin, Flute, and Singing Bowl. As a result, the album is assorted by various colours of sounds. The singing voices from the new two players, Keiji Takeda and Maryse Dumas, is one of the biggest key ingredients which characterizes the mystical sounds flowing though the whole album. In 2024, they released the fourth album 'The Gentle Island' featuring the nostalgic sounds created on music boxes on which the members composed melodies by themselves, an upright piano with its soft pedal, and old vintage synthesizers. By their adding subtle vocals and the environmental sounds which they recorded in Taiwan during their improvisation sessions, this album turned to the quietest and gentlest work of their career. Also, this album was available for a 'Name Your Price' only on BandCamp on April 10th, and all the proceeds to the general release date for May 8th were donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society as relief funds for the Hualien Earthquake in Taiwan occured in 2024. In 2025, Tokyo Ambient Collective recorded their 5th album 'Winter Ambience' together with Alessandro Ambrosi who is a new member and accordionist from Italy. This album became a masterpiece of ambient music which is expressed from a long and harsh winter, to a gentler winter, warmed up by the fireplace.

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    Tokyo Ambient Collectiveの他のリリース

Ricco Label