Bold as Light cover

Bold as Light

Released

Two transverse bamboo instruments, the Laotian raj naplaim and the Japanese nohkan, are this album’s binary star. The stories of both feel written in the sky, as fleeting as a cloud’s signature. As is often the case in the music of Stephan Micus, titles like “Rain” and “Spring Dance” are more suggestive than explicit. The clearest shadows come in the form of “Autumn Dance,” a lilting shakuhachi solo falling like a leaf from the “Golden Ginkgo Tree” that follows. Dedicated to master teacher and maker Kono Gyokusui (1930-2008), this is one of the most enchanting journeys Micus has ever documented.

Tyran Grillo

Recommended by

Suggestions
Ragged Atlas cover

Ragged Atlas

Fred Frith, Cosa Brava
High Lines cover

High Lines

Michael Galasso
Lysøen (Hommage à Ole Bull) cover

Lysøen (Hommage à Ole Bull)

Sigbjørn Apeland, Nils Økland
Timeless cover

Timeless

Jan Hammer, Jack DeJohnette, John Abercrombie
Desert Poems cover

Desert Poems

Stephan Micus
Oceana cover

Oceana

Ben Monder
Re: ECM cover

Re: ECM

Max Loderbauer, Ricardo Villalobos
Chiaroscuro cover

Chiaroscuro

Arve Henriksen
Panagia cover

Panagia

Stephan Micus
Deviations cover

Deviations

Dominic Frasca
Ocean cover

Ocean

Stephan Micus