One of the reasons I love winter is because it is such a great time for music. The cold, subsequent raise in time spent inside, and shorter days causes music to take on a different feeling altogether. We start to feel more sentimental and introspective in the winters stillness. At least in regions that have a significant winter I guess. Suffice to say, seasons cause us to contemplate life differently whether we realize it or not.
One of the tale tell signs of this time of year being upon us outside of the chill outside, is the emergence of holiday music reigning over the airwaves as if holding us hostage. Now, don’t get me wrong, I actually love all the classics, digging back through lesser known b-sides and unique takes on holiday music is something I always enjoy this time of year but sometimes its nice to break away from the endless rinse and repeat that we hear while out living our lives this time of year and that’s where Lullatone come into play.
Lullatone is a project by Shawn and Yoshimi Seymour who are based in Nagoya, Japan. I have followed along with Lullatones output since waaaaaay back in 2003 or so when I came across their first album on a small indie electronic music label called Audio Dregs while working at a college radio station. Their music defines the word charming by using a minimal approach to production, melody, and scope. It is simple music that always manages to bring me joy when I listen along.
Which brings us back to the winter and more specifically an EP of songs they created during the winter of 2014 called While Winter Whispers. It is part of a series of seasonal releases in which they did their best to capture the essence of the different seasons. The music is sentimental and heartwarming, the perfect companion for cold winter months. I recently rediscovered the EP because YoungDoo started using it as Milla’s sleep time music.
I love the way they describe the music:
“Here are some songs we made for winter. We think they might make a nice soundtrack for:
-watching your breath come out like little clouds
-catching a cold
-revisiting a book you’ve already read (or were supposed to have read at school)
-warming your hands on coffee mugs
-pulling a scarf all the way up to your nose
-soup
-“old people hobbies”
-hibernating”
Easily worth your time to check out this release as well as their entire discography if your into it, the music is available on most streaming services as well as BandCamp. To learn more about them check out their website which details the work they do with music, as well as listen to years of their output. www.lullatone.com
Speaking of which, this year they have been making little “one-minute concerts” that I have thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. The world could surely use more of this kind of subtle joy so I wanted to share a few here in this post as well as an embedded version of a cool music App they made with another artist. (If your reading this in the main timeline, follow the jump below to see them.)
(more…)
