Long-standing doyens of the Japanese underground, Morimoto Ariomi and Cobalt, come together as Jyuriaano for this perfectly titled debut LP for the nothing-but-essential An'archives. Though this is the first time they've put recorded music out into the world together, they've been playing as a duo since as early as 2016, and that period of time spent in each other's company seems to be refleceted in a set of songs that move whimsically between genre, as if following whatever interest the pair may have wanted to explore on any given day. Overall, we might broadly categorise this as jazz-inflected psych folk with a mostly love-lorn streak, though they can also be bouyant and ecstatic too - take, for example, the contrast between the melancholic lament of 'Night Window' and the joyous declaration of 'How Close'. Most of all, though, it's a hugely good natured and lovingly composed affair, Morimoto and Cobalt naturally at ease with one another, the sound of friendship and rare understanding that you can imagine being of equal appeal to both Julian Cope and Stephen Pastel. If you must resist such things, you were looking in the wrong place to start anyway.
Edition of 300; UK stores get in touch for distro
FFO: Jacks, Yoshio Hayakawa, Naoki Zushi, Los Doroncos
