01 - 20 years ago02 - butterfly03 - snow bird04 - spring has come!!!05 - winter sleep 06 - hid and seek07 - voice08 - monster09 - april10 - blue bell11 - after 20 yearsPiana－《Snow Bird》日本發行首張個人專輯《Snow Bird》，從創作、錄音到製作幾乎一手包辦，她純熟運用計算機音樂軟體，輕巧地讓電子化的聲音如蝴蝶般在歌聲四周拍動著翅膀，或是重疊、延長迴響，留白或是打斷旋律的行進，加上她脆弱、甜美、空靈的嗓音唱出內省的少女獨白，令人一聽難忘。雖有著偶像歌手般亮麗外型，卻跳脫乍聽之下的粉紅色日本少女“流行”歌謠窠臼，音樂獨特而清新。「感覺像是孩童素描簿或日記的美妙歌曲明顯有些懷舊感傷，並渲染力極強地勾勒出情緒上時而淚汪汪，時而喜悅、憂懼的童真世界……讓人聯想到Pop-Off Tuesday和Cocteau Twins最令人怦然心動的漂浮、純真sampladelia風格。」－The Wire「流行音樂（或說，Piana的流行音樂）意在傳達情感……而就這方面Snow Bird有多成功呢？大多時候，非常成功。聽每一首歌時，我都能驚鴻一瞥地體驗到這位年輕女性細膩、柔美的心。」－Stylus MagazinePiana－《Snow Bird》
1. 20 Years Ago2. Butterfl y3. Snow Bird4. Spring Has Come!!!5. Winter Sleep6. Hide and Seek7. Voice8. Monster9. April10. Blue Bell11. After 20 Years
On this debut from Naoko Sasaki, alias Piana, connections are forged between the seemingly disparate fields of glitch processing and coy J-Pop. Coming across as a child’s sketchbook or diary, there is a palapable sense of nostalgia in these lovely songs, powerful and moving evocations of a kid’s world that vary from the tearful to the joyful to the fearful. Basing her fragile melodies on slow motion Satie-like chord patterns, employing piano, organ, occasional broken beats and beautifully measured guitar from Yuichiro Iwashita, Sasaki then destabalises the music by adding a low key firework display of static pops and hisses which serves as a brilliantly effective metaphor for a child’s sense of wonder, distress, excitement and anxiety. The songs recall both the unsettling, naive sampladelica of Pop - Off Tuesday and Cocteau Twins at their heartstopping best. // THE WIRE (UK)....griper tag om mig fraring;n fouml;rsta ton. En del har jauml;mfouml;rt Pianas musik som en korsning av Erik Saties vackra pianostycken, smakfullt ihopfogade av spillror av knaster och sprak, och auml;ven om jag kanske inte hittar konkreta sparing;r av sekelskiftes-musikern saring; fouml;rstaring;r jag vilken atmosfauml;r och vilket tillstaring;nd skribenterna befunnit sig i nauml;r de houml;rt Piana, vars album auml;r en trevlig fouml;rening av den typ av popmusik och elektronik som Friendly Noise fouml;respraring;kar. Tvaring; av albumets inledande sparing;r – Butterfly och Snow Bird – auml;r sidorna hos den skouml;nsjungande Sasaki som framtrauml;der starkast i den sparsmakade elektroniska pool som piano-slingorna badar i. I till exempel Butterfly multi-plicerar hon sin rouml;st saring; att de framstaring;r som suddiga ljuddimmor, ungefauml;r som ett screengazing extrakt av Slowdives Shine. Lika fint auml;r titelsparing;ret dauml;r Satie kanske gouml;r sig mest paring;mind, om man nu – vilket jag knappt klarar av – kan slita sig fraring;n de hypnotiska, upphackade faring;gelsamplingarna som behagligt smauml;lter in i ljudbilden paring; ett Differnetskt sauml;tt. // Kristoffer Lecander, Twisterella (SE)2 Snow Bird + EphemeralEtt alldeles utsouml;kt stycke filmisk, smaring;skalig och ja; japansk popmusik. Fylld av saring;dana dauml;r harmonier som glider in i sinnet utan att man riktigt lauml;gger mauml;rke till det. Exotiskt, men auml;ndaring; varmt och vauml;lkomnande. // Musiklandet.se...Let me begin with the voice. I haven’t heard a voice like hers in a long time — at least, not since I first heard the main character of Hayao Miyazaki’s Whisper of the Heart sing (in Japanese) John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads.” Not only is it high and squeaky, but it’s also fresh, innocent, and completely stripped of pretension. I say this even though she’s singing in Japanese (the liner notes on the album are in Japanese, too, though you can find translations on the Happy web site)... Sasaki’s simple, honest voice is crucial here because her music is extremely complicated. There are crazy rhythms, backwards melodies, bleeps and blips, and other assorted weird noises sprinkled throughout these eleven songs. // STYLUS MAGAZINE (US)Piana has a sad whimsy to her sound, on songs like “Blue Bell”, she releases her vocals in soft bursts over tinkling bells and a breezy flute in a song spaced with glacial holes between the instruments. Snow Bird is pure massage and melt, the aural equivalent of watching water glide across stone. This is an album designed for thinking quietude, a fetal position soundtrack buoyed by Sasaki’s hair stroking nuzzle of a voice. // INDIEWORKSHOP (US)This item is filed under::- Electronica/Techno/Electro- Indie/Rock/Pop/FolkySnow Bird + EphemeralBACK IN STOCK. Startling, original and lush Japanese experimental pop. Warmly recommended!Happy (HAP003) | *BESTSELLER!*Bauml;st just nu // NOuml;JESGUIDEN (SE)Ouml;msint och avskalat gouml;r japanska Piana (Naoko Sasaki) en oemotstaring;ndligt vacker musik paring; nya skivan Ephemeral. // Rated 5/6 in SvD (SE)We are very proud to offer you Ephemeral, the new album by Morioka, Japans Naoko Sasaki, otherwise known as Piana. Following 2003s critically acclaimed Snow Bird.Ephemeral takes Pianas sound into a new, more acoustic, terrain. Shedding some of the glitch aesthetics that made Snow Bird a genre-defying micro-pop release, Ephemeral shows Pianas strength as a songwriter and arranger, and a master of her electronic and acoustic art. A recent interview conducted with Piana describes the thought processes behind Ephemeral:Ephemeral is much more acoustic than electronic this time, more pop and less experimental. Why did you choose to do this? How do you view this album different from Snow Bird?Piana: Most of the songs on Snow Bird I created sound, noise and structure first and lyrics came up to me after. For this album, I wrote songs with lyrics first and added atomospheric sound later. Many gentle songs are created this time that I didnt want to put noise or glitcy edits much, More I wanted to use musical instruments like cello and violins to leave the emotional feelings.About lyrics, Snow Bird is an abstract poetry which is expressed the imaginative inner feelings of a little girls past, present, and future times. Ephemeral is not about one persons fantasy world but a suite of a frail love story of long-past childhood. Ive locked up the never-coming-back times in this album.Do you have any musical influences for this record?Piana: I am not really inspired from other music, I would say more from novels, poetries, or movies. Haruki Murakami is the writer I get the most influence on my music. If I hadnt have met his works, I might not have been able to come up with my music.It is clear that despite her success with her first release, Piana was not content to simply release another Snow Bird. The lengths she went to create a more mature and developed, yet unquestionably-Piana, album, are evident in the production, composition, and creativity of Ephemeral. A bold, yet important statement about her seriousness as an artist.Joined this time by Yuichiro Iwashita (Minamo) on guitar, Seigen Tokuzawa on cello, and Gen Saito and Sawayka Kuwabara on violin, Ephemeral casts serious acoustic musicianship against a modern electronic framework. The dreamy yet melancholy, powerful yet fragile sound of Pianas music mixed with her angelic Cocteau Twins:esque voice rounds out an expertly produced album that, sounding like no one else, effortlessly floats her to the top of her craft.Tracklisting:1. Something is lost2. Early in summer3. Beside me4. Color of breeze5. Little girl poems6. Muse7. Mother’s love8. Moon and cello9. BeginningThis item is filed under::- Indie/Rock/Pop/Folky