Shisō album cover
Shisō

Koura

2003
and/OAR

Filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu was fond of what he called “pillow shots”—brief scenes shown between sequences of action or dialogue that helped set the mood, give physical context, or comment on the interpersonal situations of his characters. As Koura, improviser Brian Labycz applies that idea to sounds instead of images, shuffling 34 brief field recordings from the Japanese islands of Honshu and Shikoku with 33 tracks of even briefer silence. Each vignette gives just enough feeling to spark the imagination, stopping before the mind starts to exoticize or romanticize what it hears.

Tyran Grillo

Who also suggested

If you select your preferred streamer here, we will save your preference and link to that platform if possible. This can always be changed in the Settings menu.

Apple Music

If you’d like to prioritize Bandcamp if available, tap the Bandcamp logo.

Since some albums are only available on one service, you’ll still see logos for other services if the album is only available on that service.

Next