H.Takahashi - Sonne und Wasser

Plantasia 2.0! Well almost... H. Takahashi's latest shares a similar conceptual basis to Mort Garson's cult classic (and WOE best seller...) in its focus on the lifecycle of plants, but it's a good way removed from Plantasia's exuberant, almost-cartoon like electronic meanderings. Sonne Und Wasser begins in a way redolent of Music for Nine Postcards (specifically recalling 'Urban Snow') in its refined minimalism, all sunlight through the trees on a motionless day, and as it progresses introduces a subtle harmonic evolution that evokes some of the new age qualities of the Windham Hill canon, and of course, the recent Masahiro Sugaya collection. Sugaya, and particularly Yoshimura, are obviously high watermarks for any kind of contemporary ambient music, but Takahashi adds something meaningful to the tradition by both reflecting its principle values (music with a functional, uptopic value) and allowing his own patient mastery of space and form to mark him out as very much his own artist on his own path. And honestly, it's great to have someone making modern ambient music right now that legitimately stands alongside its progenitors. A timely and highly enjoyable album.