.:: Marihiko Hara is a member of the artist collective Rimacona-Lab. He composes sound-based works, reflecting on the strength of silence.
His work "untitled" was selected by "Festival Confluencias 2005" held in Spain. Also, he is a member of the experimental-pop duo Rimacona with Natsuko Yanagimoto.
During summer 2006 Rimacona organised a concert as an opening event of "Feu Nos Peres -Japanese Migrants in New-Caledonia-" by Mutsumi Tsuda at Tjibaou Caltural Center in New-Caledonia. Since 2007 Rimacona's concert has been on in Yokohama, Fukuoka, Kyoto and Okinawa.
Cesura, Hara's debut album, emits melodies that have been compressed into subtle layers and thin sound-scapes.
The piano is his trademark, and when coupled with the other acoustic instruments he employs, we get digital samples that float endlessly via loops and high frequencies throughout the entire album, as in 'Sleep', 'Cesura', and 'Konstellation'.
Silence is the other vitally important element of 'Cesura'. It is often balanced with drones and white noise (as in 'Vision', 'Spectrum', 'Consonance', and 'Ripple') and is treated as an active part of the sound Hara makes. It serves as the basic color of the canvas, which he slowly fills with thin colored stokes.
On the final track, entitled 'modena', Hara collaborates with Natsuko Yanagimoto: a vocalist and second half of the experimental-pop duo, Rimacona. Here, an over-processed voice is surrounded by flickering sounds, which resonate intimate tones and an overall emotive atmosphere.
Marihiko Hara designs minimal sound sculptures with poetry and soul, gives weight to pauses, and breaths life into silences and melodies without emphasis.
Cesura is such poetry.
download: marihiko hara - cesura
pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com
