Windswept Adan

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Windswept Adan (アダンの風)
Studio album by
Ichiko Aoba
Released2 December 2020
Genre
Length50:02
Label
Producer
  • Ichiko Aoba
  • Taro Umebayashi
Ichiko Aoba chronology
"gift" at Sogetsu Hall
(2020) 		Windswept Adan (アダンの風)
(2020) 		Amiko (Original Soundtrack)
(2022)
Singles from Windswept Adan
  1. "Porcelain"
    Released: 30 October 2020[1]

Windswept Adan (アダンの風, Adan no Kaze) is the seventh studio album by Japanese folk singer and guitarist Ichiko Aoba, released on 2 December 2020 through her label, Hermine. It was composed, arranged and produced by Aoba and Taro Umebayashi.

Conceived as a soundtrack for an imaginary movie, Windswept Adan is a concept album about a young girl's journey on two fictional islands, Kirinaki and the titular Adan, which are based on the Ryukyu Islands. Sonically, the album marks a departure from Aoba's previously minimalist guitar instrumentation, incorporating elements from chamber folk and psychedelic folk and featuring a variety of instruments as well as field recordings of nature. Upon its release, Windswept Adan received critical acclaim, with praise for its storytelling and composition.

Background[edit]

After the release of her debut album Kamisori Otome (剃刀乙女) in 2010, Aoba had gradually built a small audience in her native Japan, but her work remained obscure in Western music communities.[2] However, following the release of her sixth studio album qp in October 2018, Aoba began drawing attention from international listeners and media outlets. qp was received positively by both Western critics and listeners; it was called a "masterclass" and "beautifully restless" by Sputnikmusic and was ranked among the top albums of 2018 on the online music community Rate Your Music.[2][3] On 10 January 2020, Aoba announced the establishment of her record label, Hermine, in conjunction with the release of an EP titled amuletum bouquet.[4]

Development[edit]

Furuzamami Beach on Zamami Island. The adan trees on the island inspired the title for Windswept Adan.

Windswept Adan was first conceptualized by Aoba as a story while on a trip to Okinawa and the Kerama Islands with photographer Kodai Kobayashi in January 2020.[2][5][6] The album's title originates from a conversation between Aoba and Kobayashi during a drive on Zamami Island, in which Kobayashi noted the Pandanus tectorius trees[a] native to the island.[5][6][8] Aoba stated that the story for the album came to her in an ephiphany she had at an izakaya on Okinawa Island; after noticing the translucency of a sea grape, she wrote the sentence "There were no words on the island" in her notebook, and soon began outlining a plot.[5][6] As she developed the narrative, Aoba shared her progress with composer Taro Umebayashi, with whom she had previously collaborated on amuletum bouquet. Umebayashi would then record rough demos inspired by her ideas, which further shaped the direction of her writing.[2][5][9] Aoba made several subsequent trips to the Ryukyu Islands to write, visiting Amami Ōshima, Kudaka Island, Kakeroma Island and Ishigaki Island throughout 2020.[6] She researched various elements of Ryukyuan culture and history, including festivals held on remote islands, the noro and yuta figures of Ryukyuan religion, the region's geography, demographics, weather and marine life, and topics such as plant breeding and plankton.[2][10] Aoba completed the final draft for the story in October 2020, during the album's mastering stage.[5]

Windswept Adan takes place on the fictional remote islands of Kirinaki and the titular Adan.[8][9] The narrative follows a young girl from a tribe of inbred families from Kirinaki, who is exiled by her grandmother to Adan in order to prevent her from participating in an intra-family marriage.[9]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic82/100[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
Sputnikmusic3.9/5[12]
Beats Per Minute88%[13]
Pitchfork8.0/10[2]
The Observer[14]
Financial Times[8]

Windswept Adan received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 6 reviews, indicating 'universal acclaim'.[11]

Sputnikmusic noted the big change in sound from Aoba's previous works. They noted, "none of this record's fresh insertions are individually intrusive, but something is most certainly missing."[12] They also noted Windswept Adan as being a smooth listen. Chase McMullen of Beats Per Minute called the album "by far her most ambitious work to date" and an "aquatic world to be lost within" and praised it for its denseness, serenity, and feeling of adventure.[13] Brendan Mattox of Bandcamp Daily mentioned the scarcity of English press on Ichiko Aoba but noted "with much of Aoba's previous work, emotion transcends language" and "listeners don't need to know the words in order to feel their emotional resonance".[9]

The album gained further attention from reviewers outside of Japan following its international release in early December 2021. Shy Thompson of Pitchfork awarded the album an 8.0/10 and noted the album's strong narrative arc, writing that "as the story's protagonist deepens her connection with nature—witnessing its beauty, destruction, and eventual rebirth—each track distinguishes itself as a chapter in that emotional journey".[2] Emily Mackay of The Observer appreciated Aoba's calm sound, writing that "the album casts a still, soothing spell".[14]

Track listing[edit]

Track listing adopted from Spotify and tower.jp.[15]

All lyrics are written by Ichiko Aoba

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Prologue"Ichiko Aoba4:55
2."Pilgrimage"Taro Umebayashi3:48
3."Porcelain"Umebayashi4:29
4."Horo (帆衣)"Aoba1:58
5."Easter Lily"Umebayashi3:16
6."Parfum d'etoiles"Umebayashi2:52
7."Kirinakijima (霧鳴島)"Aoba1:27
8."Sagu Palm's Song"Aoba3:57
9."Chinuhaji"Umebayashi1:52
10."Red Silence (血の風, Chi no Kaze)"Umebayashi3:47
11."Hagupit"Aoba, Umebayashi2:58
12."Dawn in the Adan"Umebayashi4:45
13."Ohayashi"Aoba, Umebayashi3:44
14."Luminescent Creatures (アダンの島の誕生祭, Adan no Shima no Tanjyōsai)"Aoba6:07
  • Note: Tracks 9 and 13 are stylized in lower case.

Personnel[edit]

Musicians

  • Ichiko Aoba – vocals, classical guitar, guitalele, accordion, organ, chimes, beats, field recording, arrangements, production
  • Taro Umebayashi – acoustic piano, Rhodes, celesta, kalimba, synthesizer, electric guitar, charango, arrangements, production
  • Junichiro Taku — flute, alto flute, piccolo
  • Tomoyuki Asakawa – harp
  • Manami Kakudo — percussion, co-arrangement on "Ohayashi"
  • Phonolite Strings
    • Yuko Kajitani – first violin
    • Asano Mekaru – second violin
    • Anzu Suhara – viola
    • Orie Hirayama – cello
    • Hiroaki Mizutani – contrabass

Production

  • Toshihiko Kasai – recording, mixing
  • Tomomi Baba, Takuma Kase, Shunsuke Miyazawa – additional engineering
  • Seigen Ono – mastering
  • Hikari Machiguchi – design
  • Kodai Kobayashi – art direction, photography
  • Masaki Munakata – promotion
  • Hiroyasu Hirakawa – public relations

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ In Okinawa, Pandanus tectorius is called the adan tree.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "青葉市子が12月にニューアルバムリリース、梅林太郎と再タッグの「Porcelain」を先行配信（動画あり）". Natalie (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Thompson, Shy (22 November 2021). "Ichiko Aoba: Windswept Adan". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 22 January 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Review: Ichiko Aoba - qp". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  4. ^ "青葉市子、作編曲に梅林太郎を迎えた新境地のニューシングル本日配信". Natalie (in Japanese). 10 January 2020. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e Hashimoto, Tomofumi (21 February 2021). "Ichiko Aoba, Taro Umebayashi, and Kodai Kobayashi discuss Windswept Adan". Tokion. Archived from the original on 6 January 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Murao, Yasuo (30 December 2020). "青葉市子『アダンの風』ロング・インタビュー 島々を巡って紡いだ物語から、時空を繋ぐ音楽が生まれるまで". Mikiki (in Japanese). Tower Records Japan. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  7. ^ Ministry of the Environment, Okinawa and Amami Islands. "Adan: Tree of Life". Japan Tourism Agency. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Archived from the original on 14 May 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Honigmann, David (10 December 2021). "Ichiko Aoba imagines a musical journey between islands on Windswept Adan". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d Mattox, Brendan (26 January 2021). "On Breakthrough "Windswept Adan" LP, Ichiko Aoba's Visionary Ambient Takes Flight". Bandcamp Daily. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  10. ^ Matsumura, Masato (26 January 2021). "青葉市子が『アダンの風』で見つめた、時代のざわめきの向こう側" (in Japanese). Cinra [ja]. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Windswept Adan by Ichiko Aoba". www.metacritic.com. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  12. ^ a b JohnnyoftheWell (10 December 2020). "Review: Ichiko Aoba - Windswept Adan". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  13. ^ a b McMullen, Chase (4 December 2020). "Album Review: Ichiko Aoba – Windswept Adan". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Ichiko Aoba: Windswept Adan review – hypnotic, ghostly psych-folk". The Guardian. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  15. ^ "青葉市子/アダンの風". tower.jp. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Windswept_Adan&oldid=1223865236"